Gold traded little changed on Friday amid pressure from a stronger dollar, but was headed for its biggest monthly fall this year amid rising prospects of a US rate hike in December. Spot gold was nearly unchanged at $1,286.96 per ounce as of 0720 GMT, on track to register a 2.5 percent decline in September, its largest monthly fall so far in 2017 and the biggest since November 2016.
However, it was set to end the quarter around 3.7 percent higher. US gold futures rose 0.1 percent to $1,289.70 per ounce. Gold is mostly being influenced by the dollar's movements in an otherwise quiet session, said Yuichi Ikemizu at ICBC Standard Bank in Tokyo. "(Gold) will likely continue to struggle in the short term against a backdrop of higher interest rates, particularly in the US and possibly in the U.K. and Europe," said INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir.