Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell on Monday as the U.S. dollar strengthened and traders continued to price in a possible Fed rate hike.

The most active gold contract for April delivery fell 1 U.S. dollars, or 0.08 percent, to settle at 1,225.50 dollars per ounce.

After recent comments by U.S. Federal Reserve officials, and an exceptionally strong equities market, investors now believe the Fed may raise rates from 0.75 to 1.00 during the March FOMC meeting.

According to the CME Group's Fedwatch tool, the current implied probability of a hike from 0.50 to at least 0.75 is at 86 percent at the March meeting and 80 percent for the May meeting, along with a 7 percent chance of an increase to a 1.0 rate.

Putting additional pressure on gold was the U.S. Dollar Index, which rose by 0.29 percent to 101.67 as of 1845 GMT. The index is a measure of the dollar against a basket of major currencies. Gold and the dollar typically move in opposite directions, which means if the dollar goes up, gold futures will fall as gold, measured by the dollar, becomes more expensive for investors.

The precious metal was given support as the U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 40.06 points, or 0.19 percent as of 1845 GMT. Analysts note that when equities post losses, the precious metal usually goes up, as investors are looking for a safe haven, while the opposite is true when U.S. equities post gains.

Traders are looking to the rest of the week for the international trade report on Tuesday, weekly jobless claims report on Thursday, and the big jobs report on Friday.

Silver for May delivery rose 3.3 cents, or 0.19 percent, to close at 17.773 dollars per ounce. Platinum for April delivery dropped 15.9 dollars, or 1.6 percent, to close at 978.20 dollars per ounce.