Gold on track for second weekly gain

SINGAPORE, Aug 15 (Reuters): Gold traded firmly above $1,300 an ounce on Friday and looked poised for a second-straight weekly gain as sluggish global economic data and geopolitical tensions boosted the metal's safe-haven appeal.  
Bullion was helped by data on Thursday that showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, while eurozone economic growth ground to a halt in the second quarter as Germany's economy shrank and France's stagnated.
Tensions over Ukraine and in the Middle East also boosted gold, seen as an alternative investment to riskier assets such as equities.
"Gold will be well-supported above $1,300 on underlying geopolitical tensions. Some weak data in the last few days is also helping," said a precious metals trader.
"But if equity markets take off, prices could dip as there is no other support from physical markets or inflows into exchange-traded funds."
Spot gold edged up 0.1 per cent to $1,314 an ounce by 0629 GMT, after closing little changed in the previous session.  The metal has gained 0.4 per cent this week.
U.S. gold slipped 50 cents to $1,315.20, also on track for a second weekly gain.
While investment demand for gold has recently been boosted by conflicts, physical demand for the metal remains weak.