• Silver, platinum also down for the week

LONDON: Gold held a tight range on Friday, as uncertainty over the U.S. Federal Reserve’s tapering timeline kept most investors on the sidelines.

But overall gains in the dollar this week put bullion on course to mark its first weekly decline in five.

Spot gold was last up 0.04% at $1,795.40 per ounce by 1523 GMT, while U.S. gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,796.30.

Bart Melek, head of commodity strategies at TD Securities, said a bounce in U.S. yields were preventing speculative funds from convincingly moving into gold.

The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose after economic data indicated high inflation could persist for some time. While gold is considered a hedge against inflation, higher yields translate into higher opportunity cost of holding non-interest bearing bullion.

Gold investors closely monitor the Fed’s decisions, since non-yielding bullion tends to gain when interest rates are low.

Many gold market participants are waiting on the sidelines in part due to the uncertainty surrounding the Fed’s tapering timeline, said Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann.

Elsewhere, silver fell 0.4% to $23.98 per ounce, while platinum fell 0.8% to $969.71 per ounce, with both set for weekly losses.

Palladium rose 0.2% to $2,183.03 per ounce, but was down about 10% for the week.

Melek noted that increasing concerns over automobile manufacturing in China and elsewhere, with announcements from automakers shuttering some production due to chip shortages, have pushed demand for auto-catalysts platinum and palladium lower this week.