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• Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose on Friday ahead of the U.S. congressional vote on the Trump healthcare bill. The most active gold contract for April delivery rose 1.3 U.S. dollars, or 0.10 percent, to settle at 1,248.50 dollars per ounce.

• Spot gold <XAU=> rose 0.8 percent to $1,254.01 per ounce by 0042 GMT, after hitting a near one-month high of $1,254.65

• Gold was given support on Friday with investors carefully monitoring the progress of a healthcare bill proposed by the Republican Party and supported by U.S. President Donald Trump.

• Investors are concerned that if this bill fails to pass the lower chamber, it will be a sign that Trump's economic agenda of tax cuts and infrastructure spending will be much more difficult to achieve than expected. The vote was expected to begin later on Friday, after the market's close.

• US President Donald Trump has suffered a major setback after his healthcare bill was withdrawn before a vote in Congress on Friday night. The bill faced certain defeat from members of Mr Trump's Republican party, who control both houses of Congress.

However, Mr Trump blamed the minority Democrats for the failure.

• Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said he and Mr Trump agreed to withdraw the vote, after it became apparent it would not get the minimum of 215 Republican votes needed.

• Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.21 percent to 832.62 tonnes on Friday from 834.40 tonnes on Thursday.

• Hedge funds and money managers boosted their net long position in COMEX gold after two weeks of cuts and cut it slightly in silver in the week to March 21, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday.

• The geopolitical risks will provide support for the gold market, Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank warned that investors also need to pay attention to the overall commodity markets.

He added that weakness in broader commodities like copper and oil could limit gold’s upside weakness. Currently investors are a lot more cautious on global growth and inflation expectations, which would be negative for gold.

“We need a clear break above $1,265 an ounce to attract new money in the gold market.”

• Silver for May delivery added 15.5 cents, or 0.88 percent, to close at 17.748 dollars per ounce.