By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was down on Wednesday morning in Asia as the dollar ticked upwards and investors look to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s guidance on asset tapering and interest rate hikes.
Gold futures fell 0.67% to $1,796.35 by 12:17 AM ET (4:17 AM GMT). The dollar, which usually moves inversely to gold, edged up on Wednesday.
The Fed will convene for its Jackson Hole symposium, due to take place online from Aug. 26 to 28. The focus is now squarely on whether Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will provide a timeline for asset tapering in his speech on Aug. 27.
Some investors bet that the Fed will being tapering within 2021, with Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) analysts raising the odds that asset tapering will begin in November 2021.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Korea will hand down its policy decision on Thursday and back in the U.S., the U.S. House of Representatives adopted a $3.5. trillion budget resolution.
The U.S. is also making progress on the COVID-19 front, with the FDA granted full approval of the Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)/BioNTech SE (F:22UAy) COVID-19 vaccine earlier in the week, which also contributed to investors’ increased risk appetite. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical advisor to the President, also predicted that the U.S. could have COVID-19 under control by early 2022 if vaccination rates rise.
SPDR Gold Trust (P:GLD) said its holdings dropped 0.2% to 1,004.63 tons on Tuesday from 1,006.66 tons on Monday.
In other precious metals, silver eased 0.4% to $23.73 per ounce, while platinum fell 0.5% and palladium was down 0.6%.