Gold up

Bengaluru: Gold inched up on Monday as investors looked for short-term gains using the metal´s recent narrow trading range, amid increasing Sino-U.S. trade tensions and prospects of further interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,195.83 an ounce as of 0655 GMT, after falling 0.6 percent on Friday when it marked its third straight weekly decline.

U.S. gold futures were down 0.1 percent at $1,199.80.

"It is a range-buying trade as people watch for moves in the dollar and developments in U.S.-China tariffs dispute," said Ronald Leung, chief dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.

Gold has held a $25 range for the past few weeks and could hold that till the markets get a specific direction on rate hikes for this year in the upcoming September Fed meeting, he added.