The yellow metal price held steady above $4,300 after recording a deep drop due to profit-taking activity following its all-time high earlier in the week.
At 9 am, gold was at $4,346, up 0.19% since opening early Wednesday in Asian trading.
However, gold is still in a favorable market environment due to investors' risk-off sentiment amid renewed demand for the US dollar.
Wall Street is now under pressure for the second consecutive day, although this decline is more related to the lack of economic data and market players who are expected to be active again on January 2.
In addition, caution also contributed to the short-term rise in the USD as the market evaluates the announcement of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes for December.
This document will be released in the mid-American session and could provide some insight into the Federal Reserve's (Fed) next monetary policy move.
The announcement has the potential to trigger short-term movements due to the continued lack of trading volume, but is not expected to have a long-term impact as market players are still patiently waiting for United States (US) President Donald Trump to name the next Chairman before making a full decision.
