Spot gold dropped 0.2% to $4,968.10 per ounce

G0old prices dropped in a low-liquidity market on Thursday, after a more than 2% gain in the previous session, pressured by a firm dollar ahead of key U.S. inflation data that could influence the central bank’s interest rate-cutting trajectory.

Spot gold dropped 0.2% to $4,968.10 per ounce by 0315 GMT. U.S. gold futures for April delivery were down 0.4% at $4,987.60.

Gold is in a consolidation mood, reflective of thin liquidity conditions during the Asia holiday period rather than a shift in fundamentals, said Christopher Wong, a strategist at OCBC.

Mainland Chinese, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea markets were shut for the Lunar New Year holidays.

The U.S. dollar held steady at a more than one-week high, making dollar-priced bullion more expensive for other currency holders.

Meanwhile, January’s Fed minutes showed that policymakers were in near-unanimous agreement to keep interest rates on hold at their meeting, but remained split over their next steps, with “several” open to rate hikes if inflation remains elevated, others inclined to support further cuts if inflation recedes.

Markets currently expect the first interest rate cut this year to be in June, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool.

Investors are now focused on the weekly jobless claims due later today and Friday’s Personal Consumption Expenditures report, the central bank’s preferred inflation metric. Non-yielding bullion tends to do well in low-interest-rate environments.

We still see a period of consolidation in the near term before prices of gold and silver trend higher gradually. For silver, consolidation is likely to hold in the $70 to $90 range while gold may trade in the $4,800 to $5,100 range in the interim, Wong said.