Gold fell on Friday for the first time this week as hawkish comments from US Federal Reserve officials renewed bets on a US rate hike this year, but was still on track to end the week with modest gains. Spot gold was down 0.3 percent at $1,348.31 per ounce at 0655 GMT, but up 0.1 percent for the week. US gold dropped 0.3 percent to $1,351.10 an ounce. San Francisco Fed President John Williams on Thursday joined a growing chorus of his colleagues signalling support for a US interest rate hike in coming months.
New York Fed President William Dudley reinforced his confidence on a possible interest-rate hike for a second time in the week. Dallas Fed president Robert Kaplan, however, saw limited room to manoeuvre on rate hikes. "There is no clear direction from the Fed. Adding to that there are mixed views from the Fed officials," said Brian Lan, managing director at Singapore-based gold dealer GoldSilver Central.