Gold was down on Tuesday morning in Asia as the dollar strengthened, and fresh COVID-19 restrictive measures were introduced across Europe.
Gold futures were down 0.22% at $1,734.30 by 11:56 PM ET (3:56 AM GMT). The dollar edged up on Tuesday, clawing back from a tumble from four-month highs during the previous session as U.S. Treasury yields fell. The U.S. Treasury will auction two-, five- and seven-year debt throughout the week.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that the U.S. economy had progressed “more quickly than generally expected and looks to be strengthening” but added that it still far from full recovery.
Investors expect more comments from Powell, both at his first joint appearance with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee later in the day. He was also a keynote speaker at the BIS Innovation Summit alongside European Central Bank (ECB) president Christine Lagarde among others.
Meanwhile, the ECB increased bond purchases by nearly half during the previous week, increasing its stimulus efforts to reduce borrowing costs and convince skeptical investors it would do what it takes to curb bond yields.
Capping the yellow metal’s losses was the third wave of European COVID-19 cases thanks to highly contagious variants. Paris and surrounding areas entered a four-week lockdown during the previous week, and Germany extended its lockdown until Apr. 18.
On the vaccine front, results for a major late-stage trial for the AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN)/University of Oxford COVID-19 vaccine were better than expected. The results could pave the way for emergency authorization in the U.S. and calm worries about the vaccine’s potential side effects.
In other precious metals, palladium rose 0.4%, while silver fell 0.6% and platinum was down 0.3%.
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