BENGALURU, August 17, 2018 (News Wires) - Gold eked out small gains in Asian trade on Friday after declining to a 19-month low in the previous session, but the metal remained on track for its biggest weekly decline since mid-2017. Spot gold was up 0.1 per cent at $1,175.22 an ounce, as of 06:37 GMT, while US gold futures were down 0.2 per cent at $1,181.30 an ounce. For the week, spot gold has shed 2.9 per cent in what could be its sixth consecutive weekly decline. It hit its lowest since January 2017 at $1,159.96 Thursday on some aggressive stop-loss selling. "Investors, businesses and perhaps a lot of people are looking to pick up gold and that's why we're seeing some support," said Brian Lan, managing director at dealer GoldSilver Central in Singapore. A mild correction in the dollar, after the currency gained against most peers this week, also lent support to gold's recovery. A weaker dollar makes greenback-denominated gold cheaper for holders of other currencies. The dollar edged further away from a 13-1/2-month high hit earlier this week, as risk aversion eased after China agreed to hold lower-level trade talks with Washington this month, offering hope that they might resolve an escalating tariff war. Weakness in emerging-market currencies amid the Sino-US trade spat and Turkey crisis has seen investors pour money into the US dollar, leading the greenback to serve as a safe-haven asset during uncertainty. "The dollar is still trending higher and is the safe-haven vehicle of choice, so gold is still under pressure from that source," said Nicholas Frappell, general manager with ABC Bullion.
