Gold prices moved higher on Monday, as sentiment on the U.S. dollar weakened due to a decline in bond yields and as traders grew more cautious ahead of new Federal Reserve head Jerome Powell's testimony this week.

Comex gold futures were up 0.80% at $1,341.0 a troy ounce by 02:10 a.m. ET (06:10 GMT), the highest since February 20.

The greenback had strengthened broadly after the minutes of the Fed's January policy meeting showed last week that central bank officials see increased economic growth and rising inflation as justification to continue to raise interest rates gradually.

But traders became more cautious as Powell was set to testify on the central bank's semi-annual report on monetary policy and the economy on Tuesday before the U.S. House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee.

The U.S. dollar also weakened as the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield continued to pull away from last week's four-year high of 2.957%.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.22% at 89.61, off last Thursday's one-and-a-half week high of 90.17.

Gold is sensitive to moves in the dollar. A weaker dollar makes gold less expensive for holders of foreign currency.