Gold futures gave up earlier losses on Wednesday to finish higher after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank would use quantitative easing as a tool against the next economic downturn.

Prices for the metal had been trading lower for much of the session as demand for havens ebbed on signs the spread of COVID-19 in China may be slowing.

On Wednesday, however, in testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Powell said the Fed would use government bond purchases, know as quantitative easing or QE, and communicate clearly with markets about interest-rate policy, known as “forward guidance,” as tools against the next economic downturn.

Read:Powell says Fed will aggressively use QE to fight next recession

The comments “got gold into the green,” said Brien Lundin, editor of Gold Newsletter. QE tends to pressure the dollar and is designed to stoke price pressures. Gold is often seen as a hedge against inflation.

Gold for April delivery US:GCJ20 on Comex tacked on $1.50, or 0.1%, to settle at $1,571.60 an ounce. March silver US:SIH20, meanwhile, shed 10 cents, or 0.6%, at $17.497 an ounce.

“Gold has lost some momentum since peaking earlier in the year, but the trend remains positive,” Tyler Richey, co-editor at Sevens Report Research, wrote in a newsletter. “Gold remains our preferred destination for any risk capital going into commodities.”

On Wednesday, global equities climbed, with benchmark U.S. stock indexes moving higher. The S&P 500 SPX, -1.11% and Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.87% touched intraday records, signaling a return of appetite for riskier assets.

China’s National Health Commission on Wednesday said 2,015 new cases of the disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, had been reported over the last 24 hours, declining for a second day. That brought the number of cases in mainland China to 44,653, although experts have warned that a substantial number of infections may have gone uncounted. The commission said there were 97 additional deaths from the virus in the last 24 hours, bringing the mainland total to 1,113.

Analysts said a hit to physical demand in China was also serving to keep a lid on the yellow metal.

In China, “the virus is having a noticeable impact on physical gold demand. There, as well as in Hong Kong, many jewelers are shut because gold buyers are staying at home to avoid infection and are reducing their spending to the bare essentials,” said Daniel Briesemann, analyst at Commerzbank, in a note.

Prices for gold settled lower on Tuesday, after posting four consecutive sessions of gains.

Going forward, however, “with more political headlines, Middle East worries, Eurozone economic problems [and] Brexit, investors may be bargain hunting in gold soon if we see some lower prices,” said George Gero, managing director at RBC Wealth Management.

In other metals trade, April platinum US:PLJ20 fell 0.6% to $967.30 an ounce, while March palladium US:PAH20 rose 2.5% at $2,322.50 an ounce.

March copper US:HGH20 rose 0.7% to $2.60 a pound.