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Gold rose for a second day amid speculation that Federal Reserve policy makers will again stay their hand on an interest rate increase when they gather this week, opting instead to signal the potential for a hike at the year’s final meeting in December.

The odds of a U.S. hike this week are just 20 percent, with a 56 percent chance seen for December.

“The odds are that they’re not going to do anything in September, but talk tough and keep December on the table,” Michael Cuggino, president of Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC, said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “But there is three more months’ of data and global activity and employment reports and inflation information that will come out between now and then, so even December’s not a given.”

"We suspect that the wait and hold pattern of the last few days will continue over into tomorrow's Bank of Japan meeting and do not expect too much in terms of price action for gold today," said Alex Thorndike, senior precious metals dealer atMKS PAMP Group.

"It is going to be a crucial week for global macro risk, as the BOJ and the Fed convene to decide on interest rates," write analysts at Citigroup Inc., led by David Lubin on Monday. "We believe the post-BOJ/Fed price action may end up being more nervous than many investors originally thought ... It could be a week of global repricing."

"The market is more nervous about the BOJ than the Fed as it may give the market a surprise," said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.