By Apeksha Nair
BENGALURU (Reuters) - Gold prices shed earlier gains to edge lower on Monday, as the dollar held near a four-month peak, dampening the appeal of bullion.
Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,311.91 an ounce by 0816 GMT. Earlier in the session, it touched $1,318.85, its highest since April 30.
U.S. gold futures for June delivery slipped 0.2 percent to $1,312.60 per ounce.
Prices had earlier touched a one-week high, benefiting from a slightly weaker dollar as investors mulled over the impact of Friday's mixed U.S. employment data.
"Price action suggests that the yellow metal has struggled to find any real support in April's disappointing U.S. jobs report," said Jameel Ahmad, head of global currency and market research at FXTM.
The dollar, however, firmed and traded near its 2018 peak during late Asian hours, as the data did little to temper perceptions of strength in the U.S. economy. [USD/]
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"Traders are taking every opportunity to buy the dollar index ... This has an impact on the price of the gold," said Naeem Aslam, chief markets analyst, Think Markets.
"The U.S. NFP number released on Friday was largely short of expectation, but investors have still focused on the factors which are positive; the headline employment number. These factors are keeping the dollar rally going which is pushing the gold price lower."
Meanwhile, two Federal Reserve officials on Friday said they were keeping an open mind on the total number of rate hikes needed this year.
U.S. interest rate futures rose modestly on Friday, as traders still expect the Fed to raise key borrowing costs at its June 12-13 policy meeting.
"With expectations still heightened over the Fed raising U.S. interest rates in June and the dollar appreciating further, the yellow metal looks at risk to another round of selling pressure," Ahmad said.
Gold is highly sensitive to rising U.S. rates as these tend to boost the dollar in which it is priced.
Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.17 percent to 864.13 tonnes on Friday.
Speculators trimmed their net long positions in COMEX gold by 62,378 contracts to 51,985 contracts in the week to May 1, U.S. data showed on Friday.
"Friday's CFTC data indicate that prices should bottom out soon. The mood among speculative investors is very bearish already," said Carsten Fritsch, commodity analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
Spot silver lost 0.3 percent to $16.43 an ounce.
Platinum advanced 0.4 percent to $909.74 an ounce, having earlier hit its highest since April 25 at $918.70.
Palladium rose about 1 percent to $976 an ounce, after earlier reaching $978, its strongest since April 27.
(Reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Joseph Radford and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)