Gold held just below a one-week high on Tuesday as investors bet sluggish US nonfarm payrolls data would deter the Federal Reserve from hiking rates this year, although some cautioned that profit taking could hurt the metal in the near term. Spot gold ticked up 0.1 percent to $1,137.15 an ounce by 0629 GMT. Prices rose to $1,141.80 in the previous session, the highest since September 28, before closing down 0.2 percent.
The metal is still largely holding on to Friday's 2.2 percent jump, the biggest one-day rise since January 15 following data that showed US employers slammed the brakes on hiring over the last two months. "This week we think that some form of profit taking may occur after Friday's heady gains post-US nonfarm payrolls," say Howie Lee, an analyst at Phillip Futures.