Palladium prices rose on Tuesday, as the US dollar fell against its peers, despite renewed fears over lockdown restrictions in several countries around the world.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced yesterday re-imposing full lockdown restrictions in the country until mid-February to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Britain last month identified a new strain of the coronavirus, which can spread more quickly than the prior.

This came despite the UK the UK, and other countries are trying to contain the pandemic by administering several promising vaccines, including the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and Moderna's vaccine.

The dollar index fell against a basket of major currencies by 0.2% to 89.7 points as of 14:31 GMT, after hitting a high of 89.9 points and a low of 89.6 points.

Palladium March futures rose 1.5% to $2,427 an ounce as of 14:32 GMT, with a high of $2,453 and a low of $2,380.

US stock indices opened higher on Tuesday, ahead of key economic data, amid focus on the latest updates regarding the coronavirus crisis.

The ISM Manufacturing PMI reading will be released later today, amid forecasts to reach 56.6 points during December vs. 57.5 points in November.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced yesterday re-imposing full lockdown restrictions in the country until mid-February to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Many countries are trying to contain the pandemic by re-imposing lockdowns in addition to administering several promising vaccines, including the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and Moderna's vaccine.

As for stocks, Dow Jones rose 0.4% or 120 points to 30,344 as of 15:05 GMT, Nasdaq rose 0.6% or 85 points to 12,782, and S&P 500 rose 0.4% or 17 points to 3,717.

The US dollar fell on Tuesday, sliding for the second straight day near the 33-month low that was hit yesterday, as demand remains ahead of the release of key US data on the manufacturing sector performance during December, which provides strong insight on the US economic health during the fourth quarter of last year.

The dollar index fell more than 0.3% to 89.59 points, after it opened at 89.90 points, and hit an intraday high at 89.91 points.

The index fell 0.1% yesterday, and hit its 33-month low at 89.42 points, within the US currency's slide since that start of 2021.

The dollar index lost around 7%, its first annual loss in three years, and the largest since 2017, due to the huge fiscal and monetary stimulus in the US to face mitigate the coronavirus crisis impact, which is the worst economic crisis since the 1930s Great Depression.

The People's Bank of China lifted the official exchange rate for the yuan to the highest rate since China abandoned its peg against the dollar in 2005, which boosted investors sentiment and increased demand for high-risk currencies.

At 15:00 GMT, the ISM Manufacturing PMI reading is expected to reach 56.6 points during December from 57.5 points in November.

Oil prices continued to rise as the US market opened on Tuesday, to resume gains after a pause yesterday due to profit-taking, before the OPEC-Plus meeting concludes, as the global coalition is expected to keep the current output levels during February as Saudi Arabia continues to push forward in that direction, and ahead of preliminary data on US crude inventories later today.

US crude rose 2.4% to $48.53 a barrel, after opening at $47.39, and hit a low of $47.27, and Brent crude rose 2.6% to $52.06 a barrel, after opening at $50.74, and hit a low of $50.62.

US crude lost 1.75% yesterday, and posted its first loss in 4 days, due profit-taking from an 11-month high of $49.80.

Brent crude futures fell nearly 1.9%, after hitting the highest since March 2020 at $53.30.

Alongside profit-taking, oil prices fell on Monday after OPEC-Plus failed to agree on output levels in February, in addition to the United Kingdom's announcement of a general lockdown to curb the spread of the new Covid-19 variant.

During the monthly meeting of the OPEC-Plus joint ministerial committee, which is held to review members' compliance with the global production cut agreement, Saudi Arabia opposed increasing production due to the new lockdowns, while Russia called for a hike after the recent recovery of demand.

The meeting will conclude later today, after it was extended due to the failure to reach an agreement yesterday, amid expectations that Saudi Arabia and Russia will dismiss any proposed hikes in production.

OPEC-Plus agreed on early December to increase output by 500,000 barrels per day starting from January 2021, and agreed to hold a monthly ministerial meeting to review the market situation and adjust production levels accordingly.

The American Petroleum Institute will release its preliminary data on US crude inventories later today, amid forecasts for inventories to drop for the second straight week, and the Energy Information Administration will release its official report on Wednesday.