After a 6-month drop, Dubai gold prices held steady

22k gold can be bought at Dh144.25.

Gold prices held steady on Friday, after hitting a six-month trough in the previous session, as the US dollar pulled back from a 11-month peak on profit-booking.
Spot gold was little changed at $1,267.38 an ounce, as of 0304 GMT. In the prior session, the bullion touched $1,260.84, its lowest since Dec. 19, 2017. 
24k gold is priced at Dh153.75 in Dubai and 22k gold can be bought at Dh144.25.
 
However, the yellow metal was headed for a 0.9 per cent decline for the week. 
A weaker greenback makes dollar-denominated gold cheaper for holders of other currencies.
US gold futures for August delivery were 0.1 per cent lower at $1,269.10 per ounce.
Gold has rebounded a little bit from the lower side due to the weakness in the dollar, said Ronald Leung, chief dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.    
The dollar fell from an 11-month peak against a basket of major currencies as investors took profits, while sterling rebounded from a seven-month low after a slightly hawkish tilt from the Bank of England surprised the market.                    
The trade war is affecting gold for the time-being. Unless the dollar weakens, do not expect gold to move too high, Leung added.  
Asian shares were under pressure on Friday on signs that US trade battles with China and many other countries are starting to chip away at corporate profits, with oil prices choppy ahead of major producers' meeting to discuss raising the output.                               
An increasingly shrill exchange of words between the United States and China that is threatening to trigger a global trade war has claimed another victim - Germany's auto sector.  
Spot gold still targets $1,258 per ounce, as suggested by its wave pattern and a projection analysis, said Reuters technicals analyst Wang Tao.         
Meanwhile, holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, dropped 0.50 per cent to 824.63 tonnes on Thursday.         
In other precious metals, silver was up 0.1 per cent at $16.32 an ounce. It fell to its lowest since May 2 at $16.16 in the previous session, and was on course for a 1.4 per cent decline this week.
Palladium recovered from early losses to rise 0.3 per cent to $953.50 per ounce. Early in the day, it slipped to a seven-week low of $947.15 an ounce. 
Platinum slipped 0.6 per cent to $856.15 per ounce. Palladium and platinum were poised to mark a decline of over 3 per cent this week.
 

• Gold and Forex