Gold rises

Bengaluru : Gold prices inched up but remained on course to rack up their longest monthly losing streak since 2013, hit by worries over lingering U.S.-Sino trade tensions.

Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,202.04 an ounce at 0321 GMT, after touching a near one-week low of $1,195.95 on Thursday. Prices are down 1.7 percent so far this month, on track for a fifth straight monthly decline. U.S. gold futures were up 0.2 percent at $1,207.90 an ounce.

"As $1,200 is always a psychological level, there will be some battle to regain that. It is going to be critical whether prices are going to close above or below that level today," said Brian Lan, managing director at dealer GoldSilver Central in Singapore.

Analysts and traders said gold would closely track moves in the dollar, in which the metal is priced, especially with investors bracing for the next round of the U.S.-China trade conflict.