Gold has started this week falling after having been rising on omicron fears. Right now, the ounce for spot delivery is down slightly by 0.02% to $1,782.66.

The US Federal Reserve Chairman's speech that inflation should not be termed "transitory" and that the withdrawal of monetary stimulus needs to be accelerated pushed gold to a slight that this week.

While gold is falling, the dollar (which like gold is seen as a safe-haven asset) continues to gain on investors' fears about the new variant of covid-19.

According to the index that measures the US currency against a basket of rival currencies is up 0.25%, to 96.36.