AMSTERDAM/LONDON: Gold was headed for a third straight weekly rise on Friday supported by growing concerns that the Delta variant of Covid-19 could delay the global economic recovery, though a bounce in US treasury yields capped gains.

Spot gold rose 0.3% to $1,807.98 per ounce by 11:15 a.m. EDT (1515 GMT) and was up 1.2% for the week. US gold futures were 0.4% higher at $1,808.00.

“We do continue to have issues with the Delta variant. That may very well slow economic progress, not only in the United States, but of course around the world,” said Bart Melek, head of commodity strategies at TD Securities.

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly told the Financial Times that low vaccination rates posed a threat to US and global growth, adding that the central bank was fully committed to eliminating shortfalls in employment.

Governments in Southeast Asia are tightening measures, hoping targeted lockdowns will act as circuit-breakers in arresting record jumps in coronavirus cases and deaths that started rising in May.

Also helping to boost gold’s appeal was a softer dollar, which was down 0.2%.

Benchmark US 10-year Treasury yields rose from a more than four-month low hit in the previous session, but were down on the week.

Higher yields translate into a higher opportunity cost for holding non-yielding bullion.

Silver rose 0.7% to $26.09 per ounce but was down for the week after rising over the previous fortnight. Platinum gained 2.2% to $1,098.89 and palladium rose 0.2% to $2,811.27.