Gold firm

Bengaluru : Gold held steady on Friday amid tumbling equity markets, but a firmer dollar and worries about rising global interest rates dragged on prices.

Spot gold was mostly unchanged at $1,317.51 an ounce, at 0321 GMT. Prices touched their lowest since Jan. 4 at $1,306.81 on Thursday.

Spot gold was down more than 1 percent for the week and heading for its second straight weekly loss due to a recovery in the U.S. dollar.

The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, has risen 1.2 percent so far this week, its best week since the week ending Oct. 27. U.S. gold futures were up 0.1 percent at $1,319.60 per ounce. Asian stocks tumbled on Friday after Wall Street shares suffered yet another big slide amid worries over rising bond yields, while perceived havens such as the yen and Swiss franc drew demand amid the turmoil.