Gold settles lower as dollar recovers from early-2015 lows

Gold futures tilted lower in American trade for the first time in five sessions while still hovering near four-month highs, as the dollar index rose for the first time in five sessions as well, following a basket of data from the US, the world's largest economy. 

As of 02:56 GMT, gold futures due on February 15 fell 0.22% to $1,334.40 an ounce from the opening of $1,337.30, while the dollar index advanced 0.30% to 90.75 from the opening of 90.48. 

Earlier US data showed the Empire State Manufacturing Index dipped to 17.7 in January from 18, missing expectations of 18.5. 

Markets are still pricing in rate hike chances by the European Central Bank and its Japanese counterpart in 2018, which would close some of the gap between them and the Federal Reserve and weigh on the dollar. 

Inversely, chances of a Fed rate hike in March fell after a spate of disappointing US inflation data, in turn bashing the greenback to 2015 lows. 

Last month, President Donald Trump singed into law the $1.5 trillion tax reform bill, which cuts the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, while also signing a stopgap government spending bill to prevent a government shutdown, in turn underpinning Wall Street to successive record highs. 

Gold holdings at the SPDR Trust, the world's largest gold-backed investment fund, settled on Monday at 828.96 tonnes, the lowest since August 29, after rising 3% on 2017, or about 23.63 tonnes.