Gold prices fell on Thursday, to head for the first daily loss in 5 days on profit-taking from a 1-week high, while the US dollar rebounded against its peers.

Gold prices fell 0.5% to $1,834.17 an ounce, after opening at $1,843.08, and hit a high of $1,845.90.

The yellow metal gained 0.3% yesterday, and posted the fourth straight daily gain, and a hit a 1-week high of $1,855.38.

The dollar index rose 0.1% today, rising for the first day in 5, in recovery attempts from a 2-week low of 90.25 points.

Demand for the US dollar have been renewed amid growing concerns about the global economic recovery this year, especially after the European Commission slashed the Euro-area growth outlook to 3.8% in 2021 from 4.2%.

The European Commission attributed this cut to the new variants of the coronavirus, and most governments' struggle to contain the outbreak, which is a sign on the virus' ability to spread faster than before, which requires extending lockdown restrictions.

Gold stocks at the SPDR ETF fell 1.74 metric tonnes yesterday, with the total at the lowest level since June 12 of 1,146.60 metric tonnes.

Oil prices rose on Thursday, to resume gains and rise again near a 13-month high, after the US crude inventories data showed an unexpected drop.

US crude rose 0.2% to $58.45, after opening at $58.35, and hit a session low of $58.20, and Brent crude rose 0.2% to $61.22 a barrel, after opening at $61.10, with a high of $60.97.

US crude lost less than 0.1% yesterday, in the first daily loss in 8 days, due to profit-taking from a 13-month high of $58.88.

Brent crude futures fell 0.1%, in the first daily loss since January 29, after hitting the highest since January 2020 at $61.68.

The US Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday that crude inventories fell 6.6 million barrels during the week ending February 5, while analysts forecast a drop by 0.9 million barrels.

The total commercial inventories fell to 469 million barrels, the lowest level since the week ending March 27, 2020, which is a positive sign of the US domestic demand.

The US production rose 100K barrels last week, with a total of 11 million barrels per day.

Asian stock indices opened the fourth session of the week mixed but mostly higher, with Australia, Hong Kong, South Korea higher, while New Zealand lost ground, as Japan and China close down markets for national holidays. 

From Australia, consumer inflation expectations rose to 3.7% from 3.4% in January. 

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.01% to 30,040, while South Korea's KOSPI rose 0.52% to 3,100. 

New Zealand's NZX 50 fell 0.42%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.04% to 6,859. 

USD/JPY tilted lower in Asian trade off October 2020 highs ahead of US data later today and amid a lack thereof from Japan. 

As of 07:07 GMT, USD/JPY fell 0.01% to 104.58, with an intraday low at 104.57. 

From the US, unemployment claims for the week ending February 6 are expected down 24K to 755 thousand, while continuing claims are expected down 102 thousand to 4.49 million.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in earlier remarks that risks to the labor market still exist and remains a long way from a full recovery.

Powell expects monetary policy to be patiently adaptive to support the labor market, while expecting interest rates to remain low for some time. 

Investors are anticipating the results of the ongoing discussions between the White House and the US Congress over the $1.9 trillion Covid relief plan proposed by President Joe Biden.