The gold price slipped to $4,016.97 early Friday, nudging dangerously close to the $4,022 support pivot that has defined intraday structure all week. Last week’s Japanese capital-flow report showed foreign investment in Japan stocks rebounded to ¥479.4 billion from a prior negative ¥-785.1 billion, a shift that underpinned the yen and added incremental pressure on dollar-denominated gold. With Asian desks thinly staffed and liquidity at its shallowest, the session is already testing whether bears can convert a quiet drift into a clean breakdown.