Precious Metals Retreat Ahead of Lunar New Year Holidays

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Editor’s Note

This article discusses significant declines in gold and silver prices ahead of the Lunar New Year, a period traditionally associated with strong seasonal demand in key markets like China.

Market Performance

Gold lost more than 4% and silver more than 11% on Thursday, ahead of the closure of markets in China during the Lunar New Year holidays.

Analyst Commentary on Seasonal Demand

In the lead-up to this celebration, the seasonal demand from Asian buyers is “very strong, historically,” which supports prices, explained John Plassard of Cité Gestion Private Bank to AFP.

“But ‘when there are fewer buyers,’ prices fall,” the analyst emphasized.

The Shanghai Gold Exchange and futures market will be closed from Friday evening and reopen on February 24.

Price Movements and Volatility

After hitting record highs at the end of January, precious metals have fallen heavily and are experiencing a period of high volatility.
Around 17:35 GMT (18:35 in Paris), gold was down 2.28% at $4,967.46 per ounce, and silver was plunging 8.41% to $77.19 per ounce.

Impact of US Economic Data

The US dollar, a competing safe-haven asset to precious metals, surged on Wednesday following the release of the January report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which was better than economists expected.
It showed 130,000 jobs created in the United States and a falling unemployment rate of 4.3%.
Consequently, the market now assigns only about a 25% chance of a US rate cut in April, compared to more than 35% a week ago, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool.
Investors have since tempered their initial optimism. The greenback edged up 0.05% against the euro on Thursday, to $1.1865 per euro.

“A resilient US economy is no longer automatically a bullish factor for the dollar,” according to Stephen Innes of SPI AM, who notes that these “stronger employment figures (…) have produced a spark, not a flame.”
Analyst Caution on Job Data

Furthermore, “upon closer inspection, most job creations come from health, social assistance, and construction, while other sectors – such as federal administration and finance – recorded losses,” which “does not necessarily signal a broad-based improvement,” tempers Ipek Ozkardeskaya of Swissquote Bank.

“More importantly” for the analyst, “the seasonal adjustments and modeling used by the BLS may have overestimated” the figures, which would be “closer to 40,000 to 50,000 jobs, according to some estimates.”
UK Economic Data

British economic activity grew less than economists expected in the fourth quarter of 2025, at 0.1%.
The pound reacted little, as this only confirms market forecasts which were already betting on a rate cut in March.

Thursday’s Exchange Rates

Cours de jeudi Cours de mercredi
———————————-
17H35 GMT 22H00 GMT
EUR/USD 1,1865 1,1872
EUR/JPY 181,30 181,95
EUR/CHF 0,9134 0,9160
EUR/GBP 0,8709 0,8711
USD/JPY 152,80 153,26
USD/CHF 0,7698 0,7716
GBP/USD 1,3623 1,3628

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⏰ Published on: February 12, 2026