By Koustav Samanta and Vijaykumar Vedala
BENGALURU (Reuters) - Gold was nearly unchanged on Friday but headed for a fifth consecutive weekly decline, as the dollar and Asian stocks held steady and the market awaited U.S. nonfarm payroll data.
Investors remained cautious ahead of the U.S. labour data, a strong reading of which could push the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates sooner rather than later - move that would be bearish for non-interest bearing gold.
Bullion was little affected in the previous session with the European Central Bank keeping its rates unchanged.
"A good jobs figure could help cement the case in investors' minds for a June or July Fed rate hike. This would likely weaken gold and the $1,200 an ounce level could be tested," said HSBC analyst James Steel.
"A hard break may be only temporary as long term the outlook for gold is positive," Steel added, however.
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Spot gold was nearly flat at $1,211.40 per ounce at 0630 GMT. It touched a low of $1,206.60 earlier in the session and remained on track for its fifth straight weekly loss.
U.S. gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,213.90.
The dollar index held near a two-month peak, while Asian shares outside Japan advanced 0.5 percent.
Gold, which has gained about 14 percent so far this year, has been under pressure the past couple of weeks as comments from senior U.S. central bank officials, including chief Janet Yellen, boosted expectations of an imminent rate rise.
Spot gold may consolidate further in a range of $1,205-$1,219 per ounce, as suggested by a Fibonacci retracement analysis, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.
"We haven't seen a bottom of gold yet and $1,200 has been holding well," said Brian Lan, managing director at Singapore-based gold dealer GoldSilver Central.
"Depending on data tonight we will see how the market closes. If it closes above $1,200, then next week will be critical with news from Yellen expected," Lan said.
Yellen is due to speak on Monday, the last chance for the Fed to communicate with markets before it begins a blackout period ahead of its policy meeting on June 14-15.
Among other precious metals, spot platinum was up 0.2 percent at $955 an ounce. It touched $950 an ounce earlier in the day, its lowest since April 8.
Spot silver was also on track for a fifth straight weekly decline. Spot palladium looked set to finish nearly flat on the week, after dropping in the previous four.
(Reporting by Koustav Samanta and Vijaykumar Vedala; Editing by Tom Hogue and Subhranshu Sahu)