Picture used for illustration purpose. File

Gold steadied above the key $1,800/oz level on Thursday, as worries over mounting COVID-19 cases offset hopes of a swift global economic recovery.

Spot gold was little changed at $1,812.20 per ounce by 0536 GMT, after rising to its highest since September 2011 at $1,817.71 on Wednesday. U.S. gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,823.20.

Traders are seen a little exhausted after the metal cleared the $1,800 level, "but no one seems eager to abandon this trade yet", said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at broker OANDA.

"Gold is looking very bullish both in the short- and long-term... It has enough catalysts to take it to record territory before the end of the year."

Global coronavirus cases exceeded 12 million on Wednesday, with over half a million dead.

Keeping alive worries over the pandemic's economic fallout, U.S. Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday suggested the recovery in the world's largest economy may be stalling.

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Meanwhile, Britain's finance minister promised an additional $38 billion to head off an unemployment crisis.

Stimulus tends to boost gold, which is considered a hedge against inflation and currency debasement.

Providing further support to gold, the dollar traded near multi-week lows.

Asian equities ground higher as investors tried to look past Sino-U.S. tensions and renewed lockdowns to upcoming company earnings, hoping that global stimulus efforts will yield upbeat outlooks.

Boosting recovery bets, Japan's core machinery orders rose 1.7% in May, versus an expected 5.4% drop.

While there have been some positive data releases, the re-emergence of the virus is leading a flight to safety, keeping gold in the $1,780-$1,820 range in the near term, said National Australia Bank economist John Sharma.

Among other metals, palladium climbed 0.6% to $1,926.67 per ounce, platinum rose 0.1% to $844.39 and silver gained 0.3% to $18.83.

Reuters