Gold nudged a touch higher on Monday, paring falls after stronger-than-expected US jobs data sent gold to a two-month low in the previous session, but a stronger dollar curbed the rebound. "In the short term gold may hover around Friday's low, but there isn't much room on the downside as easing monetary policy is still a global trend," said Li Ning, an analyst at Shanghai CIFCO Futures.
Spot gold edged up 0.1 percent to $1,678.44 an ounce by 0727 GMT, recovering from a two-month low of $1,673.94 an ounce on Friday. US gold gained 0.2 percent to $1,679. Technical analysis suggested that spot gold may hover above a support at $1,678 during the day before breaking this level and falling more to $1,666, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao. Physical gold buyers rushed to the market on Friday during the sell-off, and the buying spree eased on Monday.
"There is physical delivery today on Friday's orders," said a Singapore-based dealer. "People are not in a rush to buy because there is plenty of supply around. But if prices drop below $1,650, there will be good demand and supply will tighten up." Spot silver partly rebounded from a 4.3-percent slide in the previous session, to gain 0.3 percent to $30.88. Spot palladium lost 1.5 percent to $600. Spot platinum was up 0.4 percent to $1,543.25.