The price of gold has declined in today’s trading so far, after last week posting its biggest monthly gain in three years. Demand for precious metal as a safe haven amid a shaky global economic outlook has been offset by the prospect of higher US interest rates. Gold for immediate delivery had slid 0.53 percent, or $6.84, to $1,276.39 as of 08:27 GMT today, about 4.3 percent over its 50-day simple moving average of $1,223.12. The commodity ended January with a gain of 8.4 percent, its largest monthly percentage increase since January 2012. Zou Lihu, an analyst at Citics Futures Co. in Shenzhen, was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that the volatility in bullion “has picked up� and that “we expect it to continue on ebb and flow of US rate hike expectations�. On Friday, the precious metal rallied over two percent after a report showing weaker-than-expected US economic growth saw investors push back their expectations as to when the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates. According to Howie Lee, investment analyst at Phillip Futures, bullion’s steep gains in the previous session may have been "overdone". Lee was cited by Reuters as saying that a single disappointing report “is unlikely to sway the Fed's decision drastically". According to Lee, the central bank is still on course to raise interest rates by June amid signs of a generally strengthening economy. On the COMEX in New York, gold for April had slipped 0.4 percent, or $5.6, to be $1,277.4 as of 08:37 GMT. The precious metal found some support after a report released over the weekend showed that China’s manufacturing sector unexpectedly contracted in January, for the first time in over two years and boosting gold’s safe-haven appeal. According to Phillip Futures’ Howie Lee, safe-haven demand for precious metals is receiving a boost from an overall sense that “the global economy is not doing well […] In the short term, we should see gold stay above $1,250."

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