Gold down

Reuters

New York/London

Gold fell more than 1 percent on Friday, snapping a four-day streak of gains following conflicting signals from U.S. Federal Reserve officials on the timing of a possible rate hike, but was still on track for its second straight week higher.

Spot gold fell as much as 1.5 percent to a session low of $1,337.37 per ounce, paring losses by 2:57 p.m.

EDT (1857 GMT) when it was down 0.7 pct at $1,342.62. The yellow metal was still heading for a weekly gain of around 0.6 percent.  U.S. gold settled down 0.8 percent at $1,346.2 per ounce.

Gold is sensitive to higher rates which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion, while boosting the dollar in which it is priced.

There have been mixed signals this week from Federal Reserve policymakers, which left the market anticipating more direction at next week´s annual meeting of central bankers from around the world in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.