Spot Gold Holds Steady Ahead of Weekend

London (May 9)  Gold prices were little changed on the European spot market Friday, with some support seen from safe-haven demand and technical buying ahead of the weekend.

Spot gold was up just 0.01% at $1,289.25 a troy ounce, while silver was 0.1% higher at $19.178 an ounce.

"Precious metals have been extremely quiet this morning, holding tight ranges," said William Adams, head of research at FastMarkets.com. "The gold price continues to oscillate sideways either side of $1,290 an ounce -- for now we would expect more of the same."

Gold could benefit from some technically-driven buying said Robin Bhar, head of metals research at Societe Generale.

"I would have thought you'd get fair amount of short covering, it being a Friday, and with Ukraine and Russia tensions not having eased much," said Mr. Bhar. "People don't like to be short ahead of the weekend."

In other precious metals Friday, platinum was down 0.2% at $1,428.70 an ounce and palladium was 0.03% lower at $801.75 an ounce.