Mubasher: Gold saw tight trades earlier on Monday, holding below a more than one-week growth registered last week, as firmer dollar and weak US jobs data stoked investor concerns about a slowdown in global economic growth.

By 7:38 am GMT, US gold futures inched down 0.19% to $1,296.80 per ounce, while spot gold fell 0.13% to $1,296.59 per ounce.

“The fall this morning is a temporary occurrence due to some early morning profit taking after Friday’s move up. The US dollar is mostly stronger and that is adding some downward pressure on gold,” Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at OANDA, told Reuters.

By 7:41 am GMT, the USD dollar index (DXY), which measures the US currency against a basket of six major currencies, added 0.03% to 97.3370.