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Gold held steady on Friday amid an easing dollar and subdued Asian stocks, staying on course for a second straight weekly gain ahead of U.S. third-quarter GDP data expected later in the day.

Recent robust U.S. data has strengthened the case for an early interest rate hike, pressuring gold prices, and strong GDP numbers may push prices lower, said Mark To, head of research at Hong Kong's Wing Fung Financial Group.

"U.S. third-quarter GDP will be closely scrutinised by markets tonight as investors try to gain more insight into a potential 'yes' or 'no' from the Fed in December," MKS Group trader Alex Thorndike said in a note.

Bullion markets may have largely absorbed the impact of a rate rise and moderately higher yields will not necessarily weigh on prices - as long as the U.S. dollar does not rally further, HSBC analyst James Steel said in a note.

U.S. interest rate futures are implying a more than 78 percent chance of the U.S. Federal Reserve raising interest rates by December, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

As the yuan retreats, China is taking in more gold. The world’s biggest consumer of the precious metal raised bullion imports from Hong Kong in September for the first time in four months as investors sought to diversify their assets on prospects for further currency weakness.

Net purchases were 44.9 metric tons from 41.9 tons in August, according to data on Thursday from the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department compiled by Bloomberg. The mainland bought 64.8 tons compared with 55.2 tons in August, while exports were 19.9 tons from 13.2 tons. Mainland China doesn’t publish the figures.

The offshore yuan sank to a record this week as Chinese policy makers signaled they are willing to allow greater currency flexibility amid a slump in exports and rise in the dollar. Further losses in China’s currency, as well as investors’ concerns over the outlook for the nation’s property market, may spur gold demand in China, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a note.

Reference: Reuters, Bloomberg