By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Gold was up on Tuesday morning in Asia, with investors remaining cautious about the omicron COVID-19 variant’s impact on the global economic recovery.

By 10:24PM ET (03:24 GMT), they were up 0.2% to $1,790.30

Omicron already caused some countries to close their borders, and has cast doubt on economic recovery.

Jerome Powell of the U.S. Federal Reserve said Monday that inflation would continue to decline over 2022 if supply and demand are in better balance. However, he added that the “recent rise in Covid-19 cases and the emergence of the omicron variant pose downside risks to employment and economic activity and increased uncertainty for inflation.”

Powell and Janet Yellen will both testify to a Senate Banking Committee hearing in the later part of the day, as well as the House Financial Services Committee a little later.

Across the Atlantic the European Central Bank attempted to assuage investor concerns over omicron on Monday, saying that the euro zone’s economy had learned to cope with successive waves of COVID-19.

In Asia Pacific, showed that China’s was at 50.1, while the was at 52.3, in November. In Japan, October’s employment data showed that the ratio was at 1.15 and the was down to 2.7%. The monthly growth rate was also 1.1%.

Silver was stable at $22.88 per ounce, while palladium and platinum were both up 0.4%. Russia’s Nornickel, the biggest producer of palladium globally, raised its 2021-2030 investment estimate to $35 billion. Nornickel will now be able to improve its production infrastructure as well as increase its PGM output over the long term.