Gold firms on dollar and US bond yield retreat

Gold edged higher on Friday, on track for a second consecutive weekly gain, as a slight retreat by the dollar and US Treasury yields offered support to the safe-haven metal.

Spot gold was up 0.3% at $1,741.60 an ounce by 1143 GMT, with bullion up more than 0.8% over the week. US gold futures gained 0.3% to $1,738.

"A correction in the US 10-year Treasury yield, and indeed in the US dollar index, is offering a little bit of a lift to gold prices, but we've been up here before around the $1,745 level and gold's found some resistance," said independent analyst Ross Norman.

"It doesn't feel like gold got a lot of momentum behind it or sufficient to push it through. We might require a convincing indication that these corrections in yield and the US dollar are more sustainable, and there's no evidence of that just now."

The benchmark US 10-year yield eased to 1.671% from Thursday's more than one-year peak at 1.754% while the dollar gave up early gains.

The US Federal Reserve this week repeated its pledge to keep its target interest rate near zero and said it expects higher economic growth and inflation this year.

Gold is often used as a hedge against higher inflation, but a recent spike in US Treasury yields has weighed on the non-yielding commodity.

Palladium dropped 2% to $2,628.84 an ounce after rising as much as 7.3% in the previous session. The auto-catalyst metal was on track for close to a 12% weekly jump, its biggest since early November.

"Volatility on the palladium market remains very high. Though the price is trading $100 lower today, the 'risk' of another surge in the short term is probably high," Commerzbank analysts wrote in a note.

Silver rose 0.5% to $26.18 and platinum was down 0.8% at $1,197.57.