India gold is expected to soften in early trade on Tuesday on profit-taking after scaling a record high of 16,040 rupees on Friday, analysts said.
However, a weaker rupee may limit losses later in the session, they added.
"There could be profit-taking in gold to 15,700 (rupees)," said Gnanasekar Thiagarajan, director with Commtrendz Research in Mumbai, adding the short-term trend is still up (in gold).
"Gold may bounce back to 16,000 rupees by tomorrow," Thiagarajan added.
"Gold would be largely consolidating in the range of 15,600-16,000 rupees," said Harish Galipelli, head of research with Karvy Comtrade in Hyderabad.
A weaker rupee pushes up prices of the yellow metal locally as bulk of it is imported and vulnerable to currency movements.
The benchmark April gold contract MAUJ9 closed 0.3 percent higher at 15,888 rupees per 10 grams.
It may open at around 15,830 rupees per 10 grams, added Karvy's Galipelli.
