The dollar rose about half a percent against a basket of currencies on Monday, after rising off a 10-month low late last week, and technical indicators pointed to the possibility of a further short-covering rebound.
"For today, gold prices will continue to slip a bit, and the longs liquidate their positions. On Friday gold's performance was lackluster due to profit-taking, as investors think the gold rally may get beaten up after it reached record prices recently," said Ong Yi Ling, an analyst at Phillip Futures.
"But so long as gold is able to stay above the $1,350 level, I'll still look at a bullish bias for gold."
Bernanke on Friday gave his most explicit signal yet that the U.S. central bank was set to ease monetary policy further, but gave no details.
Spot gold fell $12.55 to $1,357.95 an ounce by 11:17 p.m. EDT, extending losses from the previous session.
"Prices went down sharply this morning, as the dollar strengthened. But we have seen good buying around $1,356 to the $1,356.5 level. Now the price is stabilizing around this level," said a Singapore-based dealer, adding that there was strong support in the range from $1,350 to $1,352.
"And if the dollar doesn't do much, gold could be consolidating around current levels."
U.S. gold futures for December delivery fell one percent to $1,359.2 an ounce.
A bullish target at $1,404 per ounce for spot gold has been temporarily aborted, as the retracement may continue to drive the price down to $1,340 per ounce, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst.
