Gold prices started the week higher on Monday, rallying to the strongest level in around two months as investors looked ahead to a highly-anticipated speech by British Prime Minister Theresa May and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration later this week.

Gold for February delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange touched a session peak of $1,208.70 a troy ounce, a level not seen since November 23.

It was last at $1,202.95 by 3:10AM ET (08:10GMT), up almost $7.00, or 0.6%.

The British pound tumbled more than 1% against the dollar to a three-month low following media reports that suggested Prime Minister Theresa May's government was prepared to make a "clean and hard" exit from the European Union, ahead of her speech Tuesday.

A report in The Sunday Times newspaper said that May was willing to quit the European Union's single market in order to regain control of Britain's borders.

May has previously stated she will trigger Article 50, which starts the formal withdrawal process from the European Union, by the end of March, but so far has given few details about what deal she will be seeking.

Meanwhile, global financial markets will continue to focus on U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump as he takes the Oath of Office and offers his inaugural address on Friday.

Investors will welcome any detail he may give on his promises of tax reform, infrastructure spending and deregulation, as well as insight regarding policies on China and the domestic economy.

President-elect Trump has been credited with being a major catalyst behind the impressive rally in U.S. shares and the dollar since election day, although he has yet to outline his economic policies in detail.

Markets were disappointed last week after Trump failed to offer details on his promises to boost fiscal spending and cut taxes at a highly-anticipated news conference.

The precious metal has been well-supported in recent sessions amid uncertainty surrounding the Federal Reserve’s pace of interest rate hikes this year.

The Fed had indicated in December that at least three rate increases were in the offing for 2017, according to a forecast of interest rates from members of the central bank, known as the dot-plot.

However, traders remained unconvinced. Instead, markets are pricing in just two rate hikes during the course of this year, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool.

A delay in raising interest rates would be seen as positive for gold, a non-interest-bearing asset, and negative for the dollar.