Gold steadies as firm dollar offsets tighter lockdown impact

Gold prices held steady on Friday, trapped between pressure from a firm dollar and high Treasury yields and support from coronavirus lockdowns in Europe and dovish policy noises from the US Federal Reserve.

Spot gold was little changed at $1,846.50 per ounce by 1313 GMT, while US gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,847.

"We are just hovering above this crucial (200-day average) level and there is no upward momentum as the dollar is not weakening at this point and we're also seeing no big moves in yields so it's a bit of a range trade (for gold) currently," said ABN Amro analyst Georgette Boele.

A resilient dollar remained a headwind for bullion, with Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields holding close to near 10-month highs touched earlier in the week.

However, underpinning bullion, stricter lockdowns in Germany and France as well as new COVID-19 restrictions in China dampened optimism about a global economic recovery.

"We just reached the 2 million death mark, which is a horrible statistic. But it clearly highlights the prolonged effort to get us to the other side of this pandemic," said Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen. He added, however, that vaccine rollouts could offset some of these concerns in the short term.

The gold market also found support from comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, suggesting no change in interest rates, Hansen added.

While gold is considered a hedge against the inflation and currency debasement that can result from widespread stimulus, a recent jump in bond yields has challenged that status as it increases the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.

Silver fell 1% to $25.27 an ounce. Platinum dipped 1.8% to $1,098, but was up more than 3% so far this week, while palladium shed 0.4% to $2,399.72.