09:26 AM EDT, 03/16/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Gold traded lower early Monday, but rose off earlier lows that saw the price of the precious metal fall below the US$5,000 mark for the first time in a month despite a lower dollar and continuing turmoil in the Middle East.

Gold for April delivery was last seen down $38.50 to US$5,023.20 per ounce after earlier touching US$4,970.10.

The price of the metal has dropped 3.5% since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran on Feb. 28. Gold is usually considered a safe store of value during geopolitical unrest, but investors have instead turned to the dollar and bonds as U.S. inflation remains high, with the Federal Reserve expected to keep interest rates unchanged Wednesday at the end to the two-day meeting of its policy committee.

"Sentiment has been hurt by a stronger dollar, and investors rotating out of highly profitable positions following a year-long rally, while rising energy costs and inflation concerns have dampened expectations for rate cuts from the US Federal Reserve and other central banks," Saxo Bank noted.

The dollar eased early, with the ICE dollar dollar index last seen down 0.35 to 100.01 after rising to the highest since May 9 on Friday. Treasury yields fell, with the U.S. two-year note last seen paying 3.688%, down 4.6 basis points, whule the yield on the 10-year note was down 5.1 points to 4.231%.