2020.08.1219:05:00UTC+00Gold Prices Stuck In Neutral On Wednesday

Gold prices cut steep early losses on Wednesday but still remained in the red after data showed Britain's economy shrank by a fifth in the last quarter.

Spot gold was down 0.23 percent or $4.50 at $1,941.35 per ounce after hitting as low as $1,876.50 in early trade. U.S. gold futures were down 0.3 percent at $1,941.0

Spot gold had its steepest sell-off in more than seven years on Tuesday amid hopes about U.S. coronavirus stimulus and on news about Russia registering the first vaccine against the coronavirus.

The U.K economy contracted for the second straight time in the second quarter amid the coronavirus pandemic although there was some pickup in June after government relaxed restrictions on movement, data from the Office for National Statistics showed.

Gross domestic product contracted by 20.4 percent sequentially in the second quarter, following a 2.2 percent drop in the first quarter. Economists had forecast a quarterly fall of 20.5 percent.

The latest fall was the biggest contraction since the records began in 1955. On a yearly basis, GDP plunged 21.7 percent in the second quarter but smaller than the economists' forecast of 22.4 percent.

The intraday rebound in gold prices were also helped by the dollar, whose recent uptick was stalled by a deadlock in Washington over a stimulus package.