By Bryan Wong
Investing.com- Gold hovered around record highs on Wednesday morning in Asia as the US dollar remained weak and debate continued in the U.S. over the next COVID-related stimulus package.
Gold futures gained 0.05% to $1,945.60 by 11:40 PM ET (4:40 AM GMT), lower than the $1,968.00 level hit on Tuesday, suggesting that the relentless climb in the price of the yellow metal may be coming to an end.
Investors are also looking to the U.S. Federal Reserve's meeting, scheduled for later in the day, for clues on the U.S. economy's health.
However, some experts remain optimistic.
"We think the current momentum in the next few months will cross the $2,000 an ounce mark. The key question is how much does the rally increase after that," Vivek Dhar, mining and energy commodities analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (OTC:CMWAY), told CNBC.
The U.S. Dollar Index was marginally higher on Wednesday, but has been generally dropping for the last month.
Among the factors slowing down the hike in gold prices are hopes of rapid development of a vaccine, on the other hand the lack of progress on a stimulus package in the U.S. supported gold prices.
The U.S. Congress has not yet reached a deal over a new COVID-19 stimulus package. U.S. President Donald Trump sent mixed signals after telling reporters Monday that there were aspects of the proposed package he did not like while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also said he opposed “non-germane” elements in the plan, such as a provision to fund a new FBI building that the White House had insisted upon and is not pandemic related.
Still, the beginning on Monday of the world’s biggest trial to date of a COVID-19 vaccine by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Inc. has given hope to many of speedier return to economic normalcy.