Gold trends higher on Ukraine woes

Gold prices edged higher on Monday as the Russian-Ukrainian conflict added some support to the yellow metal though stronger dollar.

Recent solid U.S. payrolls report raised expectations of aggressive rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index rose 0.2% to trade at 98.8 points.

A higher dollar makes the precious metal less attractive for other currency holders.

Spot gold prices were up 0.6% or $12.5 to trade at $1936.5 per ounce by 1301 GMT.