By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was up on Tuesday morning in Asia, as the U.S. Senate prepares to vote on whether to increase the amount of the stimulus checks to be given to qualified Americans.
Gold futures edged up 0.15% at $1,883.15 by 11:01 PM ET (4:01 AM GMT).
The Senate vote comes after the House of Representatives voted in favor of U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand to increase the amount of the COVID-19 relief checks from $600 to $2,000. Gold had climbed as much as 1.3% during the previous session over the news that Trump had signed the $2.3 trillion pandemic bill on Sunday.
The yellow metal was also boosted by a weaker dollar. With trading volumes still thin in the holiday season, “precious metals traders were taking their cue from the dollar in the absence of any new fundamental drivers,” Philip Futures said in a note.
The economic disruption and the unprecedented amount of stimulus that has been seen globally thanks to the COVID-19 virus has boosted gold to its best year since 2010. Also supporting the yellow metal is the optimism over the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which has led to bets on inflation and a weaker dollar.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Monday that hedge funds and money managers raised their bullish positions in COMEX gold and silver contracts in the week to Dec. 21. However, Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department data released on Monday also showed that China’s net gold imports via Hong Kong rebounded about 82% in November, after October’s plunge.