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Gold prices eased on Thursday after a five-day rally that pushed the metal to record highs, as a stronger dollar and investor profit-taking interrupted bullion’s historic surge.

Spot gold slipped 0.2 per cent to $3,856.58 an ounce, paring gains that had driven the metal up 47 per cent so far this year, on track for its biggest annual rise since 1979. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed 0.1 per cent, making gold more expensive for non-US buyers and cooling investor appetite.

The pullback came after successive peaks left bullion in overbought territory. Traders also took advantage of the recent rally to lock in profits, analysts said, with the lack of official US economic data due to the ongoing government shutdown compounding uncertainty.

In the absence of fresh government statistics, markets are turning to private-sector indicators for clues about the health of the US economy. Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement consultancy, reported that US employers scaled back hiring plans in September and announced fewer job cuts, suggesting some resilience in the labour market.

But uncertainty over the trajectory of growth and monetary policy remains high. The Federal Reserve has already resumed interest rate cuts, with traders betting on at least two more reductions before the end of the year to counter signs of economic slowdown. Lower borrowing costs typically benefit non-yielding assets such as gold, while a weaker dollar tends to magnify those gains.

Gold’s meteoric rise this year has been underpinned by aggressive central bank purchases and growing investor demand via gold-backed exchange-traded funds. These flows have driven bullion to a series of record highs, cementing its role as a safe-haven asset amid geopolitical tensions and volatile equity markets.

Other precious metals also moved lower on Thursday. Silver and palladium both fell, while platinum traded flat.