Gold made it back into positive territory in Europe on Friday afternoon when the dollar slipped after US consumer inflation was fairly modest, but the precious metal remained within its recent range, traders said.
Markets are sifting through inflation data for clues to how aggressively the US Federal Reserve is likely to raise rates.
The US consumer price index for April was up 0.2 percent, lower than economists' forecasts for a rise of 0.3 percent.
While an increase in interest rates could be negative for gold, as it may tempt investors to place their money in dollar deposits as opposed to near zero-yielding gold, the precious metal has also historically played a role as an inflation hedge - therefore it was being tugged in both directions.
"I think all in all it is a euro-driven story once again," said Alexander Zumpfe, trader at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. "However trading is all in all dull, with liquidity rather low."
Most traders and analysts believed gold would be content to sit close to current levels for the short term.
"The market will react to currencies. It seems to be quite happy somewhere in the 70s ($370s) region," said Simon Weeks, director precious metals at ScotiaMocatta said.
"We seem to be either side of $375 and I expect more of the same. I don't see any necessity or willingness to push it too far outside or current ranges."
DKW's Zumpfe added that gold might need to see another test of the lower reaches of its $380-371 range and said a close at or above $378 would be necessary to get bulls sniffing around the complex again.
Gold fell to its lowest since mid-October at the start of the week at $371.
By 1556 GMT, spot was quoted at $376.10/376.85 an ounce, marginally up from New York's close on Thursday of $376.05/376.75.
Chart watchers at J.P. Morgan said gold's down turn remained intact for now and believed rebounds were merely corrective.
"Our underlying bias in this metal is to the downside targeting $360/345," the bank said in a daily technical metals report.
Silver followed a similar pattern to gold and kept to tight ranges, but kept above Monday's low at $5.43 an ounce. Spot moved up to $5.68/5.72 from $5.60/5.64 a troy ounce.
Platinum fell back after another unsuccessful attempt to move back above $800 an ounce. It was quoted at $793.00/797.00 versus New York's $795.50/800.50. Palladium fell to $237.00/242.00 from $240.50/246.50.
Traders were waiting for the start of the annual Platinum Week in London next week, which will be kicked off on Monday by the release of UK refiner Johnson Matthey's review of supply and demand in the platinum group metals markets.
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