Gold fell on Friday and was headed for a fourth consecutive weekly decline pressured by overall strength in the dollar on prospects of aggressive interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve, reports Reuters.
Spot gold fell 0.2 per cent to $1,817.39 per ounce by 1039 GMT, after hitting $1,810.86, its lowest since Feb. 7. Bullion has lost over 3 per cent so far this week.
US gold futures dropped 0.5 per cent to $1,816.40 per ounce.
The Fed being the most hawkish of major central banks and safe-haven flows into the greenback are weighing on gold, said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index
"Gold has not found any kind of support in times like now, when you'd expect haven demand to be strong... We've seen lots of support levels breakdown, which is discouraging for short-term traders," Razaqzada added.
The dollar index was bound for a sixth consecutive weekly gain, hovering near a 20-year high, as concerns persisted the Fed's actions to tame inflationary pressures would crimp global economic growth.
Last week, the Fed increased its benchmark overnight interest rate by an aggressive half-a-percentage point.
"Gold's current trading level below $1,830 looks too cheap, yet any gains are likely to be capped with a series of rate hikes diminishing gold's appeal as a non-yield bearing asset," Kinesis Money analyst Rupert Rowling said in a note.
Spot silver rose 0.6 per cent to $20.78 per ounce, but has fallen about 7 per cent this week, the most since late January.
Platinum rose 0.7 per cent to $950.06 and palladium gained 1.5 per cent to $1,936.55 though both were on track for weekly losses.
