Gold was little changed on Monday, traded above one-month low, as lower than forecast U.S. nonfarm payrolls data lessened speculations the Fed would raise interest rates sooner than anticipated.
The infamous jobs report released on Friday showed that American employers added 209,000 jobs last month, compared to economists forecast of a 233,000 gain, while unemployment rate unexpectedly rose.
Some economists at least see that employers managed to keep their strong pace of hiring by adding more than 200,000 jobs for a sixth month in July.
Although the NFP came lower than forecast, it signaled that there is still a slack in the labor market and the Fed may need to hold the borrowing cost at its ultra-low levels.
The shiny metal registered its third consecutive weekly loss last week on signs of progress in the world’s biggest economy.
Gold is currently trading around $1294.00 after hitting a high of $1295.13 and a low of $1291.33.
The yellow metal plummeted around 3.3 percent in July after it dropped from a peak of $1344.86 to find support at $1280 levels the previous week.
The geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and Gaza could not uplift gold prices as the attention remained on U.S. fundamentals.
The dollar inched up against majors, following Friday’s drop, where the dollar index is currently hovering around 81.42.
Crude Oil for September’s delivery rebounded to trade around $98.00 a barrel after hitting a bottom of $97.08 last week.