Gold falls

Gold prices dropped on Monday and hovered around one-month lows hit last week, as the U.S. dollar firmed and concerns over the Korean peninsula eased.

Spot gold was down 0.4 percent at $1,291.60 per ounce as of 0646 GMT, not far from last week´s near one-month low of $1,287.61.

Prices of the yellow metal dropped about 1.7 percent last week in their second consecutive weekly decline. U.S. gold futures for December delivery slipped 0.2 percent to $1,295.00 per ounce.

"(Angela) Merkel´s win in the German federal elections and a quiet news weekend on the North Korean front, saw the U.S. dollar opening stronger and gold´s weekend safe-haven premium eroded from Friday," said Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst with OANDA. The dollar index was up 0.2 percent at 92.32 against a basket of currencies.