Gold edged up on Monday after three days of losses, but the metal wasn't too far from a six-week low as investors continued to speculate on when the Federal Reserve might raise US interest rates. Spot gold ticked up 0.4 percent to $1,183.08 an ounce by 0704 GMT, up from a six-week low of $1,170.20 reached on Friday.
Bullion suffered sharp losses last week after the Fed said it saw the recent slowdown in the US economy as transitory and was not ruling out an interest rate rise this year. Investors will be monitoring US economic data due this week, including the nonfarm payrolls report for April due on Friday. Soft data could prompt the Fed to delay a rate rise, which would boost non-interest-paying gold.
"Gold has proven one time too many that it prefers to stick to $1,200 amid large fluctuations and I am inclined to believe that the precious metal may slowly edge back to that level just before Friday's nonfarm payrolls," said Howie Lee, an analyst at Phillip Futures. However, others were a bit more cautious, citing weak chart readings.
Gold will trade in the $1,140-$1,225 range in May due to deteriorating technicals, despite softness in the dollar and sluggishness in the US economy, said INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir. Premiums on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, a physical platform in No. 2 consumer China, ticked up to $3-$4 on Monday from about $2 last week.