After the stronger-than-expected employment data last week, gold fell below $1700 on concerns that the Fed might continue its aggressive interest rate hikes.
Gold continued its decline in Asia as concerns intensified that the Fed will continue aggressive interest rate hikes after strong US jobs data.
The precious metal posted its biggest weekly gain since July last week. Gold was poised for a more significant one-week rally before demand for safe assets waned after US data showed jobless claims.
Nonfarm payrolls data on Friday signaled a strong labor market as the unemployment rate returned to historic lows, bolstering the likelihood that the Fed will continue on a hawkish monetary policy. After the data, dollar and bond yields rose, putting pressure on gold, and the precious metal depreciated by 1.3 percent.
The successive rate hikes put pressure on gold throughout the year, causing it to fall by nearly 17 percent from its year-high level in March.
The focus will be on US inflation data, which will be released this week.
