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Gold edged lower on Monday as the dollar steadied and equity markets rallied following upbeat U.S. jobs data last week that came as more evidence the economy had regained speed after a first-quarter lull.

Despite the better-than-expected jobs report, markets remained skeptical about the odds of a rate hike this year. The CME Group's (NASDAQ:CME) FedWatch tool is currently pricing in just a 24% of a rate hike by December.

Gold surged to $1,377.50 last week, a level not seen since March 2014, as uncertainty surrounding global growth in wake of Britain’s vote to exit the European Union sent investors flooding into safe haven assets.

"The market is really comfortable with the view that the U.S. Federal Reserve is not going to raise rates in the immediate term despite the positive data, on the back of continued concern in the global markets around the Brexit vote," ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes said.

"The volatility shows that investor demand is still very strong."

In the week ahead, market players will be turning their attention to key economic data out of China, with Friday’s second quarter GDP report in the spotlight.

Thursday’s rate decision and monetary policy meeting minutes from the Bank of England will also be in focus, amid mountings expectations for additional stimulus in wake of the U.K.’s Brexit vote.

In the U.S., investors will eye retail sales and inflation data to gauge if the world's largest economy is strong enough to withstand further rate hikes in 2016.

This week also marks the start of the second quarter earnings season in the U.S.

Hedge funds and money managers again raised their net long positions in COMEX gold and silver contracts to record highs in the week to July 5, as safe-haven assets gained appeal after the vote by Britain to leave the EU, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed on Friday.

Reference:Economic Times, Investing, CNBC, Reuters