Gold inched up on Friday, adding to its biggest daily rise in two weeks in the previous session, on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's comments supporting further action from the European Central Bank to contain the bloc's debt crisis.
Fundamentals
* Spot gold edged up 0.1 percent to $1,616.41 an ounce by 0021 GMT (0230 IST), on course for a 0.2-percent weekly loss, despite posting its biggest one-day gain in two weeks, at 0.7 percent, in the previous session.
* U.S. gold futures contract for December delivery was little changed at $1,618.70.
* German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced support for ECB President Mario Draghi's crisis-fighting strategy on Thursday and pressed her European partners to move swiftly towards a closer integration of fiscal policies, saying time was running short.
* A trend measure of Americans signing up for new jobless benefits fell close to a four-year low last week, but weakness in a regional factory gauge showed the U.S. recovery still faces an uphill climb.
More From This Section
* Barrick Gold Corp, the world's top gold miner, is in talks to sell all or a part of its stake in its African arm to a Chinese buyer, the first big move by new boss Jamie Sokalsky to clear out its more expensive assets and revive a flagging share price.
* Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust, the world's biggest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, gained 0.4 percent to a one-month high of 1,263.578 tonnes by Aug 16.
* Spot platinum gained 0.4 percent to $1,440 an ounce, after jumping over 3 percent in the previous session on the bloodshed at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine in South Africa. The metal, mainly used to make jewellery and autocatalysts, was headed for a 2.7-percent weekly rise, its largest in two months.
Market news
* The S&P 500 closed at its highest level since early April on Thursday after comments from German Chancellor Angela Merkel that appeared to support the European Central Bank's efforts to fight the region's debt crisis, while Cisco Systems jumped after it raised its dividend.
* The euro was little changed against the dollar on Friday, after rising against the greenback in the previous session on raised expectations of action from the European Central Bank to contain the region's debt crisis.