Gold edged up above $1,200 an ounce on Friday as buyers helped the metal hold up against rising equity markets, paring losses fuelled by worries over a looming hike in US interest rates. A surge in gold prices to above $1,230 an ounce last week from around $1,140 a week earlier has spurred caution among investors, said Yuichi Ikemizu, branch manager at Standard Bank in Tokyo.
"People are not overly bearish anymore. They have learned their lesson when gold rallied sharply so they're not bold enough to go short around these levels," he said. Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,200.50 an ounce by 0711 GMT, after hitting a session high of $1,201.50. The gain helped cut bullion's weekly loss to 1.8 percent from more than 2 percent earlier in the day. That fall was largely on account of Monday's 2.5-percent drop - its deepest this year - amid worries over rising US interest rates in 2015. US gold for delivery in February gained 0.5 percent to $1,200.40 an ounce.