By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Gold was down on Tuesday morning in Asia as investors assessed the impact from a blow to a $1.75 trillion domestic spending bill and surging Omicron COVID-19 variant cases.

By 11:03PM ET (4:03 GMT), the slipped 0.12%, to $1.792.35 On Tuesday, the, which moves in an opposite direction to gold, sank 0.12%.

U.S. influence on U.S. Senator Joe Manchin’s comment on Sunday that he will not support Biden’s $1.75 trillion Build Back Better package continued to be felt on Tuesday.

Investors also worry about the rise in COVID-19-related cases across Europe, the U.S. and other European countries. Some European countries are preparing to place stricter restrictions on the spread of the omicron. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that he would tighten restrictions to curb omicron’s spread in the U.K., while the Netherlands has already entered a lockdown.

People in the U.S. are encouraged to have booster shots and use masks. Federal estimates show that 73% of U.S. sequenced cases were attributed to omicron.

Meanwhile, Moderna (NASDAQ:) Inc. said on Monday that a booster shot of its COVID-19 vaccine could protect against the variant in laboratory testing, indicating the current vaccine is “first line of defense against omicron.”

The minutes of its most recent meeting were released in Asia Pacific earlier today. In the minutes, the central bank stated that it was consistent with forecasts to begin asset tapering in 2022 at its first meeting and end it in May.

The other precious metals saw silver and palladium drop 0.1% each, while platinum fell 0.2%.