Gold sometimes moves in tandem with crude-oil prices, which have dropped 17 percent this month. Gold is down 2 percent in January after climbing 23 percent in 2006.
``The crude keeps heading lower, and that's keeping pressure on the downside for gold,'' said Nick Ruggiero, a trader at Eagle Futures Inc. in New York.
Gold futures for February delivery declined $1, or 0.2 percent, to $625.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices rose 3.3 percent last week.
A futures contract is an obligation to buy or sell a commodity at a set price for delivery by a specific date.
Some investors buy gold when energy expenses climb. Gold reached a 26-year high of $732 an ounce in May. Oil climbed to a record $78.40 a barrel in July. Crude fell below $51 today after Saudi Arabia's oil minister rejected calls for further cuts in production.
