During the Fed's "Silence," gold maintains a delicate dance

A few dollars here, a few dollars there: gold maintained its delicate dance on Monday, climbing little despite the Federal Reserve's utter silence following two weeks of relative hubbub over the possibility of a major rate increase in July.

Gold bulls and bears were left to choose their next moves on their own, as the central bank adhered to its regular 'blackout' period for comments before its rate announcement on July 27.

A week of relatively sparse U.S. economic data offered traders greater control over market flows.

Despite the insignificance of the climb itself, the Dollar Index's steepest one-day loss since mid-June helped establish the direction in favor of longs.

The most commonly traded gold futures contract on the New York Comex, August, finished at $1,710.20 per ounce, up $6.60, or 0.5 percent.

Thursday's price of $1,695 for the August gold contract was the lowest level in 27 months.

The U.S. gold standard has dropped for five straight weeks, shedding 9% in total. It has declined by 7 percent year-to-date.

Since the Consumer Price Index for the year to June hit a new four-decade high of 9.1 percent on Wednesday, rate betting has been unpredictable, with the pendulum swinging between an unusual hike of 100 basis points for July and the wider consensus of a 75 basis point increase.

Prior to Monday, the dollar had also repeatedly reached two-decade highs, dealing a severe blow to non-dollar consumer oil demand.

Ed Moya, an analyst at the online trading platform OANDA, said, "The dollar is falling to begin the trading week, but this may not be the high." "As a result, gold may have difficulty surpassing $1,750," he added.

According to Sunil Kumar Dixit, the chief technical strategist at skchart.com, if gold is able to break out over $1745 it might proceed to $1770-$1800 and $1815 from there.

"As a previous safe haven, gold is not yet out of the woods, and its doors remain open for another slide below $1,700, this time targeting $1683, $1,666, and $1,652," Dixit added.