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• Gold eased on Friday, heading towards its biggest weekly decline in 2-1/2 months, as the U.S. dollar climbed from last week's three-year low on the back of higher U.S. Treasury yields.

• Bullion has come under heavy pressure this week from a recovery in the greenback and expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will press ahead with interest rate increases this year, which tend to weigh on non-yielding gold.

• Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,328.74 by 1:37 p.m. EST (1837 GMT), its fifth losing session in six. U.S. April gold futures settled down $2.40, or 0.2 percent, at $1,330.30 per ounce.

• Spot prices have shed 1.4 percent this week, their biggest weekly decline since early December, after failing to sustain a brief push back above $1,360 an ounce last Friday.

• Bonds were also supported by the completion of $258 billion in new supply this week, which was the second largest ever over a three-day period.

• A weak euro also pressured gold. "Further weakness in gold and the euro could be the start of a fresh trend and caution for bulls is in order," said Friedberg Mercantile Group's Sholom Sanik.

• Minutes of the Fed's latest rate-setting meeting were released this week and emphasized confidence in the need to keep raising interest rates.

• "Despite the hawkish stance by the Fed, which drove this move in the gold price, we are still above the $1,300 mark," said Think Markets' chief market analyst Naeem Aslam, flagging a key support level.

• On the physical gold markets, traders said buying was muted in China after the week-long Lunar New Year holiday that closed financial markets until Thursday.

• Meanwhile, palladium increased 0.8 percent at $1,046.60 per ounce, likely boosted on industrial demand for catalytic converters in gasoline-burning vehicles, traders said. The metal was relatively flat from the prior week.

Silver dropped 0.6 percent at $16.51 an ounce, heading for a 0.9 percent weekly decline. Platinum gained 0.2 percent at $995.80 an ounce, but was down 0.6 percent on the week.

Reference: Reuters