Gold prices traded within a range close to Friday's six-week low and decline in March due to growing optimism about the U.S. economy and weak demand in the physical markets of Asia.

Kept gold prices rise weak statistics on industrial production in Japan. The volume of industrial production in Japan in February unexpectedly fell 2.3 % on a monthly basis , after rising 3.8 % in January. Analysts , on the contrary , had expected growth of 0.3%.

The analysts point out that the price of gold is under some pressure due to uncertainty about the Fed's policy .

Gold's appeal as a low-risk investments decreased this year due to high U.S. macroeconomic indicators . Fed Chairman Janet Yellen hinted at the beginning of March , the central bank may raise interest rates in the first half of 2015.

" Janet Yellen talked about raising rates , which put pressure on gold, but investors should remember that while the improved statistics , the U.S. economy is far from strong ," - believes macroeconomic strategist at Everbright Futures Co. Sun Yonggang .

"Prices continue to fall , because the factors supporting the gold in the first quarter , for example, geopolitical issues and the crisis in developing countries, now weakened ," - said the precious metals market analyst Jinrui Futures Chen Ming . According to him , the physical demand in Asia may rise when prices fall to $ 1.180-1.200 .

The cost of the April gold futures on the COMEX today dropped to $ 1288.70 per ounce.