Gold Hovers Near $5,000 an Ounce With US and China Closed

Precious metals drifted lower in thin trading, with many Asian traders offline for the Lunar New Year break, and the US also closed.

Gold fell 0.9%, holding near $5,000 an ounce. Bullion gained 2.4% Friday after a modest rise in the US consumer price index for January allayed concerns about a bigger jump. That boosted the case for the Federal Reserve to trim interest rates — a tailwind for precious metals, which don’t pay interest.