Gold’s Effectiveness in Reducing Risk for Asian Stock Investments During the Russia–Ukraine Conflict

This research article examines the effectiveness of gold as a safe-haven asset for Asian stock markets during the Russia–Ukraine conflict over the period from February 2022 to December 2025. This paper looks into the Heightened financial uncertainty evolving around the traditional investment strategies followed by investors due to the geopolitical crisis of the Russia- Ukraine War. This paper focuses on relation of gold as a safe haven with Asian Index like SSE Composite Index (China), Nikkei 225 (Japan), KOSPI (South Korea), Nifty 50 (India), MOEX Russia Index (Russia), and KASE Index (Kazakhstan). The Time-Varying Parameter Vector Autoregressive (TVP-VAR) Approach is applied to analyse the returns from the closing price of the index and gold. The findings reveal that consistently acts as a net receiver of volatility shocks, confirming its role as a financial sink and effective safe-haven assets during periods of heightened geopolitical stress. The results further highlight heterogenous responses across mature and emerging Asia markets, with emerging indices such as KOSPI acting as net sources of volatility. Although gold delivers Lower Average returns compared to equities, investors willingly accept a “premium for safety” in exchange for reduced downside risk. The study provides valuable insights for portfolio diversification, risk management, and policy formulation under prolonged geopolitical instability.

Gold, Safe Haven Asset, Asian Stock Markets

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