Gold down

Reuters

Bengaluru

Gold edged down on Friday as the dollar strengthened, but was on track for its first weekly gain in four weeks on steady physical buying from China and exchange-traded funds. Spot gold was down 0.3 percent at $1,262.24 an ounce at 0342 GMT. It was set to end the week up nearly 1 percent.

U.S. gold futures fell 0.4 percent to $1,262.90. "Gold is well supported at $1,250 and everyone is waiting for the elections and the prices are just moving according to the dollar," said Yuichi Ikemizu, head of commodity trading at Standard Bank in Tokyo.

An interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve has been already factored in the prices, Ikemizu said. "Even if they raise rates gold will not go down steeply.

" Fed policymakers have heavily tipped that the central bank will raise U.S. rates in December.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was up 0.2 percent at 98.469. It touched a new seven-month high of 98.564 on Friday.