Gold prices edged up early Friday after slipping to a more than six-month low in the previous session, as the dollar softened from recent highs, but the yellow metal was headed for its worst monthly performance since November 2016.
Fundamentals
* Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,248.64 an ounce, as of 0053 GMT. It touched its weakest since Dec. 13 at $1,245.32 on Thursday.
* Bullion was on track for its third straight weekly decline, having slipped 1.6 percent thus far and was down about 3.8 percent for the month. It was also heading towards its worst quarterly loss since end-2016.
* U.S. gold futures were 0.1 percent lower at $1,249.90 an ounce.
* The dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies, inched down 0.1 percent at 95.264. It hit a near one-year high at 95.531 on Thursday
* The U.S. economy slowed more than previously estimated in the first quarter amid the weakest consumer spending in nearly five years, but growth appears to have since regained momentum on the back of a robust labour market and tax cuts.
* The outlook for global growth has weakened in recent weeks and risks are skewed to the downside, due in part to increased protectionism, the European Central Bank said on Thursday.
* Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane said on Thursday his unexpected vote to raise interest rates this month should not be considered "surprising or radical" after a decade of ultra-loose monetary policy.
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