Gold rose on Tuesday on uncertainty over how economies would emerge from a deep slowdown, although optimism about a potential vaccine for the novel coronavirus capped bullion's advance.
Spot gold rose 0.6% to $1,741.68 per ounce by 10:33 a.m. ET. US gold futures were up 0.7% to $1,747.
"All the fundamentals for gold have never been better in history. Unless we have more optimism about the vaccine, we will begin to see an upward momentum to a new high," said Jeffrey Sica, founder of Circle Squared Alternative Investments.
"There's continued concern about these pockets of outbreak around the world... any news of a setback in re-integration of businesses into the economy will ultimately lead gold higher."
Massive global stimulus measures to limit the economic damage caused by lockdowns and business suspensions to limit the spread of the coronavirus have supported gold, since it's widely viewed as a hedge against inflation and currency debasement.
US Senators are expected to grill Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell about actions still needed to keep the world's largest economy afloat and about missteps in rolling out some $3 trillion in aid so far.
In Europe, France and Germany proposed a 500 billion euro ($543 billion) recovery fund.
Elsewhere, palladium gained 0.7% to $2,027.52 an ounce, to hit a near one-month peak of $2,109.20.
Platinum jumped 1.4% to $829.21 and silver rose 0.8% to $17.32.