Gold heads for best weekly gain in over 2 months on dovish Fed

GOLD - JAKARTA. Gold was set on Friday for its best weekly performance in more than two months on renewed signs the U.S. Federal Reserve could hold-off on tapering economic support in the near term, and as the dollar was headed for its worst week since May.

Spot gold was steady at $1,827.41 per ounce by 0648 GMT, after hitting its highest since July 15 at $1,832.40 on Thursday. It is up 1.4% so far for the week.

U.S. gold futures fell 0.3% to $1,830.80 per ounce.

"The backdrop for gold is still positive... There is a lot of uncertainty in terms of whether the economic recovery will continue as strong and what happens in the U.S. labor market," said Harshal Barot, a senior research consultant for South Asia at Metals Focus.

"There's no clear signal to suggest that the Fed will have to hike rates aggressively."

Lower interest rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.

Gold jumped as much as 1.4% on Thursday following Fed chief Jerome Powell's remarks that the U.S. job market still had "some ground to cover" and that it was "ways away" from considering interest rate hikes.

Underpinning his views, data showed the U.S. economy expanded solidly in the second quarter, but the growth fell short of expectations.

These are "short-term gains for gold, but not a trend change... I don't see gold changing anything about the dominant bias, at least until we can get through about $1,870-$1,880," said DailyFX currency strategist Ilya Spivak.

Meanwhile, the dollar index tried clawing up from a one-month low on Friday, while it was headed for its worst weekly performance since May.

Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.6% on Thursday, the first inflow in about a month.

Silver was steady at $25.51 per ounce and was headed for its first weekly gain in four.

Palladium rose 0.2% to $2,652.42 per ounce, while platinum fell 0.5% to $1,055.38.