Gold prices in Asia were down in Asia on Thursday morning despite the continuing economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 virus.

The yellow metal could not hold onto its steady gains from the previous session as gold futures dropped by 0.11% at $1,82.45.

For the third day in a row, prices for the yellow metal were in sync with stocks. The two prices usually move in the opposite direction.

Asian stocks were mixed as investors await the release of U.S. jobless data later in the day. 

Gold prices gained earlier in the day in anticipation of the U.S. Federal Reserve release of its minutes from its unscheduled meeting on March 15 overnight. The minutes indicated that officials were aware of COVID-19’s potential impact as they voted to cut the benchmark rate to nearly zero and restart bond-buying programs.

Some investors struck a positive note for gold as the pandemic is expected to peak in the U.S. and the United Kingdom next week.

The U.S. and Europe are hoping the models suggesting the next week will be the worst, regarding new virus infections, are correct, and that the curve will have then peaked for them, the source told.

Technically, the gold bulls have the solid overall near-term technical advantage amid a price uptrend in place, that strongly suggests the path of least resistance for prices will remain sideways to higher for at least the near term and probably longer,” the source added.