Gold declines

Bengaluru: Gold fell for a second straight session on Monday as expectations of an interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve in September and fears of an escalation in U.S.-China trade tensions kept the dollar firm.

Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,193.15 as of 0655 GMT, having declined 0.4 percent in the previous session.

U.S. gold futures fell 0.2 percent to $1,198.60 an ounce.

"The strong U.S. nonfarm payrolls led to some modest downward pressure on gold going forward though, the U.S. dollar will continue to weigh on gold, and as long as the dollar is strong, gold will remain constrained," said John Sharma, an economist at National Australia Bank.

Stronger-than-expected U.S. payrolls data on Friday cemented expectations that the U.S. Fed will raise interest rates in September, in what would be its third hike this year.