By Gina Lee

– 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.

Gold futures edged down 0.12% to $1,792.35 by 11:03 PM ET (4:03 AM GMT). The dollar, which normally moves inversely to gold, inched down on Tuesday.

The impact from 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 are also concerned as the number of COVID-19 cases in Europe and the U.S. spike and some European countries prepare to impose stricter restrictions to slow the spread of omicron cases. 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.

In the U.S., people are being urged to get booster shots and wear masks, with federal estimates showing that omicron accounted for 73% of all sequenced U.S. cases.

Meanwhile, Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) 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 the “first line of defense against omicron.”

In Asia Pacific, the Reserve Bank of Australia released the minutes from its latest meeting earlier in the day. The central bank said in the minutes that beginning asset tapering at its first meeting of 2022 and ending it in May is consistent with existing forecasts.

In other precious metals, silver and palladium inched down 0.1%, while platinum edged down 0.2%.