PRECIOUS-Gold steadies as investors cautiously eye U.S. stimulus

(Adds comments, updates prices)
* Britain approves Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine
* Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus:
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* https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser

By Nakul Iyer
Dec 2 (Reuters) - Gold steadied on Wednesday as investors
were cautious over the passage of a U.S. stimulus package, while
markets cheered UK's approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine,
limiting bullion's upside.
Britain became the first country in the world on Wednesday
to approve Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, which will be
rolled out from early next week. Spot gold XAU= was unchanged at $1,814.80 per ounce by
0826 GMT. U.S. gold futures GCv1 fell 0.1% to $1,817.70.
Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell urged the U.S.
Congress to pass a $1.4 trillion spending bill including
coronavirus stimulus, while some senators and House members
proposed relief measures worth $908 billion. "There's a little bit of uncertainty over the stimulus deal
to go through, and given it's at the lower end of the scale, it
is not super supportive," said Stephen Innes, chief global
market strategist at financial services firm Axi.
Although talks are a step in the right direction on the
fiscal spending front and signal further co-operation likely
ahead, stimulus efforts are well below what the market was
hoping for, Innes added.
Non-yielding gold is viewed as a hedge against inflation
likely to result from stimulus. Bullion pared early losses after the New York Times reported
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will not immediately act to
remove the Phase 1 trade agreement, which President Donald Trump
inked with China. Gold is also seen as a hedge against political and economic
uncertainty.
"Gold must remain persistently above its 200-day simple
moving average in order to assuage doubts over the integrity of
its upwards trend," said FXTM market analyst Han Tan.
In other metals, silver XAG= fell 0.7% to $23.85 an ounce.
Platinum XPT= dropped 0.4% to $996.07 and palladium XPD=
rose 0.2% to $2,410.84.