Gold falls 1% on dollar rebound, cautious investors

Gold prices declined 1 percent on Monday as the dollar strengthened, making investors become more cautious in the run-up to minutes of the previous U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting amid strict comments from the central bank officials.

Spot gold decreased 1.5 percent at $1,775.39 per ounce, after rising about 1.6 percent last week. U.S. Gold futures lowered 1.4 percent to $1,790.30.

“Gold is struggling to shine this morning amid a stabilizing dollar and concerns over China’s physical demand for the precious metal in the face of slowing economic growth,” Lukman Otunuga, senior market analyst at FXTM said.

“The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes will be closely scrutinized by investors, and given how gold remains sensitive and quite reactive to anything relating to interest rates and inflation, the precious metal could turn volatile,” Otunuga concluded.