Gold traded near a four-week high, as the current concern about the global economic outlook and the decline in the stock markets support the demand for safe assets.

On Monday, the American and European indices showed a decline on concern about the weakness of the world economy, while a growing concern about the spread of Ebola also exert pressure.

Meanwhile, traders continue to speculate on the timing of rate hikes in the United States after the September Fed meeting minutes, published last week, showed that some officials are concerned about the impact of the strong dollar on global growth and inflation prospects in the United States.

Protocol prompted investors to revise expectations of the Fed rate at a later date.

The slowdown in interest rates can support gold, as it lowers the relative cost of the metal retention, which guarantees investors a profit.

"Our products are backed by gold stock for the first time over the last month received inflows as minutes of the meeting of the Committee on the work of the Federal Open Market caused weakening of the dollar and weak data in Germany stimulated interest in safe assets," - said the director of ETF Securities in Australia and New Zealand Danny Leydler .

The world's largest reserves of the gold-exchange-traded fund SPDR Gold Trust on Monday rose by 1.79 tons, it has become the most significant increase from September 10.

The cost of the December gold futures on the COMEX today dropped to 1231.10 dollars per ounce.