Prices for gold held steady on Friday amid tumbling equity markets, but a firmer U.S. dollar and worries about rising global interest rates weighed on prices.
Spot gold was mostly unchanged at $1,319 U.S. an ounce early Friday morning. Prices touched their lowest since Jan. 4 at $1,306.81 U.S. on Thursday.
Spot gold was down 1% for the week and headed for its second straight weekly drop due to a recovery in the dollar.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, has risen over 1% so far this week, its best since the week ended last October. The index rose 0.2% at 90.42 on Friday.
Among other precious metals, silver inched up 0.1% to $16.43 U.S. an ounce, after touching its lowest since just before last Christmas at $16.22 U.S. on Thursday.
Platinum rose 0.3% to $972.20 an ounce. It hit its lowest since Jan. 10 at $965 U.S. in the previous session.
Palladium was mostly unchanged at $962.50 U.S. It marked its lowest since late last October at $958.95 U.S. on Thursday.
