© Reuters. Gold consolidates near $1,100 after Monday's rout

Investing.com - Gold prices consolidated near the $1,100-level on Tuesday, as investors continued to focus on prospects of higher interest rates in the U.S.

for August delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped 50 cents, or 0.05%, to trade at $1,106.30 a troy ounce during European morning hours.

Prices of the precious metal have been under heavy selling pressure in recent weeks amid speculation the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates for the first time in eight years as early as September.

Gold, which yields nothing and costs money to hold, is seen as a less attractive investment during times of rising interest rates.

A day earlier, gold plunged to $1,080.00, a level not seen since February 2010, before recovering to close at $1,106.80, down $25.10, or 2.22%.

Gold suffered most of its losses on Monday in a matter of minutes during early morning hours in Asia, as a bout of technical selling kicked in after prices broke below key support levels, triggering fresh sell orders amid bearish chart signals.

Also on the Comex, for September delivery inched up 5.7 cents, or 0.39%, to trade at $14.81 a troy ounce, while for September delivery tacked on 2.7 cents, or 1.1%, to trade at $2.509 a pound.

The , which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was last at 98.17 after hitting a seven-week high of 98.30 earlier.

The greenback remained in demand amid rising bets that a rate hike is coming in September.