Gold slipped on Friday as speculators booked profits from recent highs, but a steady euro and rising equities could limit declines as the metal heads for its third week of gains, its longest winning streak since November. Consumers in China helped bullion jump to its highest in more than a month this week, but purchases began to slow down ahead of the long Lunar New Year break which starts next week.
Bullion has gained more than 5 percent so far this year. Spot gold slipped $2.30 an ounce to $1,654.49 by 0252 GMT. It had hit a high of almost $1,670 an ounce on Thursday, its strongest since mid-December, before losing some of the gains due to weak US inflation data.