Gold near 8-month low

SINGAPORE, Sept 15 (Reuters):  Gold edged higher on Monday as Asian equities tumbled but the metal continued to struggle near an eight-month low due to weak physical demand and fears the Federal Reserve may signal an early interest rate increase at this week's policy meeting.

The Fed meeting may be pivotal as it debates a potential overhaul of its guidance on interest rates and seeks to nail down a plan for quitting its extraordinarily easy monetary policy.

Investors will parse the US central bank's words closely for any clues on the timing of the first US rate rise in more than eight years. An announcement is expected on Wednesday at the end of the two-day meeting.

Any increase in interest rates would hurt non-interest-bearing gold and boost the dollar.

"The (Fed) meeting this week will dictate price action for the precious metals," said Samuel Laughlin, a metals dealer at MKS Group.