On Monday, gold futures managed to rise and hit the highest one-month level, on the back of a weakened US Dollar and strengthening value of commodity stakes in general, after the successful Chinese import figures. The precious metal's move rapidly accelerated on chart-based buying.

At about 8:50 AM EST, lightly traded, but nearby, January gold was trading $21.30 higher at $1,159.50 an ounce, on New York Mercantile Exchange's Comex unit, and the most-active February, on the other hand, jumped $19.90 to $1,158.80, and managed to peak overnight at $1,163, the highest level recorded since December 08, 2009.

"There's no doubt it's dollar-related", said Leonard Kaplan, President of Prospector Asset Management.

Another factor which nudged the value of gold higher was buy stops, or pre-placed orders, which triggered when some chart points were hit.

Rise in futures of other precious metals, including silver and platinum, were also recorded.

"China's commodity imports were larger than expected, and this in conjunction with the cold weather in much of the northern hemisphere led to higher oil prices, contributing to gold's strength", said a daily research note from bullion dealer GoldCore.