Gold prices hit a near one-week high on Tuesday, helped by a weaker dollar and as investors awaited US inflation data for clues on the pace of interest rate hikes. Spot gold was up 0.4 percent at $1,327.81 an ounce, as of 0731 GMT. Earlier, it hit the highest since Feb. 7 at $1,328.03.
On Monday, the yellow metal rose 0.5 percent, its biggest single-day percentage gain in more than one week. US gold futures were up 0.3 percent at $1,330 per ounce.
"We suspect that gold has pretty much decoupled from equities for much of the last week and is instead tracking the dollar's ups and downs more closely," said INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir. "Gold held up better than stock markets last week... Relative to stocks, gold looks to be good in value and continued volatility in the equity markets might make gold more attractive for its lower volatility," analysts at Heraeus Precious Metals said in a note.
Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the largest gold-backed exchange-traded-fund (ETF), fell 2.5 percent last week, the worst since the week ended July 30.