Gold dips as vaccine hopes, strong U.S. data signal recovery

Tuesday,   24-Nov-2020   09:23 AM (IST)

Gold prices eased in early Asian trade on Tuesday as COVID-19 vaccine developments and upbeat U.S. manufacturing data bolstered investors' hopes of a swift economic recovery. Spot gold fell 0.1% to $1,834.40 per ounce by 0105 GMT.  It fell as much as 2.2% on Monday, hitting a four-month trough. U.S. gold futures were down 0.3% at $1,833.00. AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, likely to be cheaper to make, easier to distribute and faster to scale-up than rivals, could be up to 90% effective, while U.S. officials prepared to begin inoculating Americans by mid-December. U.S. business activity expanded at the fastest rate in more than five years in November led by the quickest pickup in manufacturing since September 2014, fuelling optimism of a swift recovery. U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is expected to tap former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as U.S. Treasury Secretary, a move welcomed by investors who tout her experience at the central bank as critical in the effort to revive the pandemic-hit economy. Biden on Monday was formally given the go-ahead by a federal agency to begin his transition to the White House, shortly after the battleground state of Michigan certified him as the winner there. Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.6% to 1,213.17 tonnes on Monday from 1,220.17 tonnes on Friday. JPMorgan has earned record revenue of around $1 billion so far this year from trading, storing and financing precious metals, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Silver dropped 0.1% to $23.55 an ounce. Platinum rose 0.8% to $933.78, while palladium dipped 0.1% to $2,352.15.