Gold firm

Reuters

Bengaluru

Gold held steady on Friday with tensions surrounding upcoming French elections underpinning the safe-haven demand, but the yellow metal was on track for its first weekly drop in six.

Spot gold was down 0.1 percent at $1,279.80 per ounce, as of 0343 GMT.

U.S. gold futures slipped 0.2 percent at $1,281.60. Security concerns took centre stage on Friday in the last days of France´s tight presidential race in the wake of a shooting in Paris which killed one policeman.

Polls ahead of the two-round French presidential vote, which begins on Sunday, give both far-right and far-left candidates a chance of making it into next month´s run-off, though centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron is shown in the lead. "I would expect investors to stay on the fence they would likely be market-watching rather than market-trading ahead of the French elections on Sunday, especially when there is no clarity," OCBC analyst Barnabas Gan said, adding polls could be unreliable.