Courtiers Chief Investment Officer Gary Reynolds explains what impact the Iranian conflict is having on investments and the markets – and what Courtiers is doing to protect clients’ wealth.
Firstly, let me remind everyone that we run highly diversified portfolios. Our multi-asset funds invest across a wide range of assets and securities whilst our equity funds are spread across a variety of shares in different companies, and because they are equally-weighted we are never overexposed to just one business. This should provide comfort to our investors in all circumstances, whether the source of stress arises from economic or geopolitical events.
Equity markets will open today a little off. I monitored the futures markets overnight and although there were signs of worry among investors, there was nothing major to raise concerns.
Assets that are considered safe havens in times of trouble rallied a little. The US Dollar rose around 50bps (half of one percent) against other major currencies and the price of gold rose just over 2% per ounce over the weekend.
As we would expect from any regional conflict involving Iran, oil was the most sensitive to the latest hostilities and the price of a barrel of Brent crude climbed over 12% to its highest level since June last year (see chart below).

We will monitor events and report on any major developments in markets. In the interim, if you have queries please speak to your adviser or contact us.