Gold hovers near 3-week high as weaker dollar supports

Gold prices eased on Monday due to an uptick in the US bond yields, although expectations around less-aggressive Federal Reserve rate-hike trajectory dented the dollar and kept bullion near a three-week high.

Spot gold was down 0.3% at $1,760.53 per ounce, as of 0533 GMT. Bullion hovered near its highest level since July 6 at $1,767.79 scaled on Friday. 

US gold futures dipped 0.3% to $1,776.50 per ounce.

"USD has been on the back foot and driving gold higher. Expectations are coalescing around a rapidly slowing economy and hinting at less aggressive tightening," said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.

Traders currently price about 31% probability that the Fed would keep its current 75 basis-point pace of rate hikes at its next meeting in September, with 69% odds for a smaller half-point increase. 

Making greenback-denominated gold less expensive for other currency holders, the dollar languished near three-week lows against its rivals.

Limiting bullion's gains, benchmark US 10-year Treasury yields edged off from near a four-month low. 

"Gold had its biggest weekly gain since March amid speculation that the Fed will slow the pace of interest rates rises as the US economy slows," ANZ analysts said in a note.

Focus will now be on the monthly US jobs report due on Friday, which could influence Fed's roadmap for fighting inflation.

Meanwhile, holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.06% to 1,005.87 tonnes on Friday. 

Disappointing Chinese economic data dented investors' appetite for riskier assets. 

On the technical front, spot gold may retest a support at $1,756 per ounce, as it faces a strong resistance at $1,770, according to Reuters' technical analyst Wang Tao. 

Elsewhere, spot silver fell 0.9% to $20.13 per ounce, platinum was down 0.7% to $890.52, and palladium slipped 1.6% to $2,093.71.