2021.01.2618:49:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Lower For 4th Straight Day

Gold futures ended weak on Tuesday, extending losses to a fourth straight session, as traders awaited the Federal Reserve's upcoming monetary policy announcement.

A weak dollar limited the yellow metal's slide. The four-session losing streak is the longest for gold futures since April 2020.

The dollar index, which rose to 90.61 in the Asian session amid rising tensions between the U.S. and China, retreated soon and then kept sliding to hit a low of 90.12 in late morning trades, before edging up a bit to 90.19. It was still down by about 0.22% from previous close.

Gold futures for February ended down $4.30 or about 0.2% at $1,850.90 an ounce.

Silver futures for March closed higher by $0.054 or about 0.2% at $25.538 an ounce, while Copper futures for March settled at $3.6195 per pound, down $0.0100 or 0.3% from previous close.

On the stimulus front, U.S. President Joe Biden said he's open to negotiations on his $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief proposal, but didn't rule out pursuing a Democrat-only route for passage.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said earlier Monday an aid package was unlikely before mid-March, just when jobless benefits from the last package will be running out.

A number of GOP Senators have expressed skepticism about the need for additional stimulus after recently approving a $900 billion relief package.

A report from the Conference Board showed an unexpected improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in the month of January. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index climbed to 89.3 in January from a downwardly revised 87.1 in December.

Economists had expected the index to edge down to 88.5 from the 88.6 originally reported for the previous month. The unexpected rebound by the headline index came as the expectations index jumped to 92.5 in January from 87.0 in December.