By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Gold was down on Monday morning in Asia as the Fed signaled an earlier interest rate hike, while fears over the Omicron COVID-19 variant spreading continues.

The price dropped 0.18% to $1801.65 at 11:26PM ET (4:26 GMT).

The , which normally moves inversely to gold, inched up on Monday after Fed Governor Chris Waller said on Friday the central bank is likely to raise interest rates “shortly after” the end of bond purchases in March 2022.

Investors are also interested in the rapid spread of Omicron variant. On Saturday, the World Health Organization reported that Omicron-related cases have doubled in the last 1.5-3 days in places with local infections. But the extent of the variant’s severity remained a mystery.

U.S. Health officials encourage Americans to wear masks and get booster shots.

Numerous European countries might be facing Omicron overflowing cases in the lead up to Christmas and New Year.

As the United Kingdom detected over 12,000 instances of fraud on Sunday, it is warning that they may increase restrictions before Christmas. The Netherlands went into lockdown on Saturday.

The other precious metals were silver up 0.1%, palladium down 1.8%, and platinum down 0.2%.