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Gold eased on Friday as the dollar firmed ahead of U.S. jobs data, but looked set for a weekly gain of nearly 2 percent, while investor appetite for the safe-haven asset stayed intact over signs of a close-run U.S. presidential election.

The dollar index inched up about 0.1 percent to 97.222, but remained captive to uncertainty around the election race.

"We are seeing good buying because of the uncertainty ahead of the U.S. election as people feel that gold is definitely going to go up," said Brian Lan, managing director at Singapore-based gold dealer GoldSilver Central.

Gold is getting caught in the crossfire as investors weigh the need for a haven on concern that Republican candidate Donald Trump may prevail over Hillary Clinton in the U.S. presidential election, against the rising likelihood the Federal Reserve will at last raise rates in 2016.

Investors are seeking to navigate the crosscurrents thrown up by next week’s vote -- with a possible victory for Trump seen lifting gold to as much as $1,400, according to Citigroup Inc. -- and the outlook for tighter U.S. monetary policy and a stronger dollar. A New York Times/CBS poll found Clinton ahead 45 percent to 42 percent among likely voters, tighter than her nine-point lead in the same poll in mid-October, while a separate poll by Washington Post/ABC News showed her losing ground to Trump since last week.

“Investors rotated to safe-haven assets after polls tightened and reduced the likelihood of a Clinton victory,” Citigroup analysts including Ed Morse said in a report received on Friday. “As the election keeps driving gold prices in the short-term, we expect gold volatility to remain elevated.”

Reference: Reuters, Bloomberg