"Although the wider picture hasn't changed and US growth is improving, there shouldn't be any further significant appreciation in the dollar after the strong run of the past few months and uncertainty about economic policy changes going forward," Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann said, adding that this should be supportive for dollar-denominated gold. US gold futures settled up 1.5 percent at $1,181.30 per ounce.
"Continuing jobless claims were higher than expected, supporting gold and helping to weaken (the) US dollar this morning," said Miguel Perez-Santalla, vice president of Heraeus Metal Management in New York. "There may be some retracement yet it looks like a bull market is in the making." Palladium is up around 8 percent so far this week, on track for its biggest weekly gain since July, despite falling from a four-week high of $747.80 an ounce on Thursday. It later fell 0.4 percent to $732.50. Platinum was up 2.8 percent at $966.20, after reaching its highest in nearly eight weeks at $975.80. It was heading for a 7.9 percent weekly gain. Spot silver was up 0.85 percent at $16.56.