NEW YORK, (Reuters) - Global equity markets were lower on Monday as investors hedged their positions amid rising geopolitical tensions and uncertainty over the U.S. presidential election, even as gold prices reach new highs.

The Israeli military is continuing its attacks against Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, with hundreds of Beirut residents fleeing their homes late on Sunday as explosions rocked the Lebanese capital. Gold prices surged to a record high on Monday and were up 0.07% to $2,722.16 an ounce.

All three main Wall Street indexes were trading lower, with defensive stocks, including real estate and consumer discretionary stocks, among the leading drags on the benchmark S&P 500 index.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.76% to 42,946.87, the S&P 500 fell 0.54% to 5,832.71 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.42% to 18,412.33. 

The European shares index was also down, 0.61%, while MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe fell 0.61% to 851.51.

"I think between the combination of escalating or still-high Middle East tensions and we're only a handful of days away from the (Nov. 5 U.S. election), it could be that the market is getting nervous ahead of that and people are squaring some of their positions," said Wasif Latif, president and chief investment officer at Sarmaya Partners.

Oil prices gained following a more than 7% drop last week. Brent crude futures were last up 0.85% at $73.68 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 1.1% to $69.91.

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