PRECIOUS-Gold steadies as weaker stocks offset stronger dollar, bond yields

Jan 12 (Reuters) - Gold prices steadied on Tuesday as Asian
stocks traded lower, dragged by political unrest in Washington
and rising global COVID-19 cases, outweighing a firmer dollar
and U.S. Treasury yields.

FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was little changed at $1,845.19 per ounce
by 0037 GMT, after touching its lowest since Dec. 2 in the
previous session. U.S. gold futures GCv1 eased 0.3% to
$1,845.90.
* In Asia trading, Japan's Nikkei .N225 slipped 0.48%,
South Korea's KOSPI .K11 fell 0.91% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng
index futures .HSIHSIc1 lost 0.54%. MKTS/GLOB
* Benchmark Treasury yields held firm at 10-month highs as
investors adjusted for higher government spending under the Joe
Biden administration, helping the dollar rebound and making gold
expensive. US/ USD/
* Higher bond yields increase the opportunity cost of
holding the non-interest yielding gold.
* Investors also kept an eye on the U.S. House of
Representatives, where Democrats plan to impeach President
Donald Trump after drawing up charges accusing him of inciting
insurrection ahead of last week's siege of the Capitol.
* More than 90.37 million people have been reported to be
infected by the novel coronavirus globally. * The United States lost more than 22,000 lives to COVID-19
last week, setting a record for the second week in a row, while
nearly 9 million Americans had been given their first COVID-19
vaccination dose as of Monday morning. * Money markets have ramped up bets on U.S. interest rates
rising in 2023, sending a shudder through global equities which
may soon have to brace for the day the Federal Reserve starts
scaling back aid to the economy. * Holdings of the world's largest gold-backed
exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust GLD fell 0.03% to
1,181.71 tonnes on Monday. GOL/ETF
* Silver XAG= gained 0.5% to $25.03 an ounce. Platinum
XPT= rose 2% to $1,052.38, while palladium XPD= climbed 0.3%
to $2,380.25.