By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was up on Tuesday morning in Asia, with investor turning to the safe-haven asset as the dollar weakened and COVID-19 worries increased.
Gold futures edged up 0.13% at $1,941.80 by 12:34 AM ET (5:34 AM GMT), with the dollar edging down on Tuesday after hitting a one-week high during the previous week.
Investor sentiment got a boost from Moderna 's (NASDAQ:MRNA) press release on Monday, stating that the Cambridge, MA-based company is in “advanced exploratory talks with the European Commission to supply 80 million doses of mRNA-1273, Moderna’s vaccine candidate against COVID-19, as part of the European Commission’s goal to secure early access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for Europe.”
Moderna’s announcement came hot on the heels of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granting emergency use approval on Sunday for a potential treatment that uses blood plasma from recovered patients.
But that boost took a hit after the World Health Organization (WHO) sounded a warning bell, stating that the evidence proving that the treatment works remains “low quality.”
Also dampening investor sentiment was the University of Hong Kong (HKU)'s report of the world’s first case of COVID-19 reinfection, with a man in his 30s reinfected with the virus almost five months after his initial infection.
Meanwhile, all eyes are now on Thursday’s Jackson Hole symposium, where U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is widely expected to give further guidance on the direction of U.S. monetary policy during his speech.