The yellow metal market held near its all-time high since last week as the market remained concerned about US President Donald Trump's tariff plans while watching this week's inflation report.
At 9.30 am, gold was at $2,926.15, down 0.32% since it opened early Monday in Asian trading.
Bullion had hit a new high of $2,954.69 in Thursday trading last week.
Last week, Donald Trump announced new tariffs next month on ecological products such as lumber and forestry after his administration had just launched duties on cars, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.
In addition, there was also an additional 10% imposed on Chinese imports and 25% on steel and aluminum.
However, investors are still closely following the rate-setting by Federal Reserve (Fed) officials due to the latest reports on the trajectory of Trump's policy push that has fueled inflation.
The surge in inflation since late last year forced the Fed to keep rates at current levels and limited the appeal of gold to move further.
The market will next look to the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, the Fed's preferred inflation measure, which will be released on Friday for further confirmation of the central bank's next rate path.
Elsewhere, physical gold demand in China and India remained subdued this week as buyers avoided buying due to high prices.
