Gold inched down on Monday but stayed within reach of a seven-week high as inflation fears boosted bullion's appeal as a hedge against risk.
Gold was 0.3 percent lower at $928.05 per ounce at 1149 GMT, compared with $930.70 late in New York on Friday.
On Friday, bullion climbed to $933.65, its highest level in seven weeks after data showed U.S. core inflation in April rose more than expected.
Analysts said bullion was still an attractive hedge against risk as economic recovery is yet to assert itself.
"The outlook for gold is a lot better than the outlook for the U.S. economy," said Charles Kernot, mining analyst at Evolution Securities. "There is still a lot of uncertainty in terms of the outlook for the global economy...People are now looking at it being a much slower recovery (than expected)."
Investors looking for further clues on the health of the world's biggest economy will keep an eye on the U.S. National Association of Home Builders' May housing market index, due at 1700 GMT.
Nevertheless, U.S. economic data on Friday offered some evidence that the recession's worst phase could be over, with April consumer price unchanged and industrial output declining at a slower pace than in March.
Kernot added that precious metals will be at the forefront of investors' minds as Monday marks the start of London's annual platinum week gathering.
PLATINUM EYED
Platinum rose 0.4 percent to bid at $1,105 an ounce from $1,100.50 from Friday as traders anticipated the release of Johnson Matthey's 2009 platinum report, offering price outlooks and forecasts for demand and supply for platinum group metals.
Platinum usually gains ahead of platinum week, but dropped nearly 4 percent last week in a market hounded by economic uncertainty. Platinum group metals, which have industrial end-uses, languished in 2008 due to carnage in the autos sector.
Palladium was at $224.50 from Friday's $222.50, while silver bid at $13.80 an ounce from $13.93.
"For both platinum and palladium, the rapid ramp-up in ETF holdings have slowed significantly. As with gold, we believe the slowdown is due to the rally in equity prices since the middle of March," Walter de Wet, a strategist at Standard Bank said in a note.
Investors were hesitant to pile more money into gold, keeping holdings at the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, unchanged at 1,105.62 tonnes as of May 15.
