Gold futures ended higher on Friday as chart levels were broken, but it was pressured by a stronger dollar and renewed expectations for a U.S. rate hike this year.
U.S. gold for June delivery settled up 0.9 percent at $1,204.60 an ounce. Spot gold was last up 1.15 percent to $1,208 an ounce. Flat initially, it gained momentum after a break of technical resistance at $1,196 that triggered automatic buy orders.
"This move is coming during a week when we didn't really have any gold-positive news but ...the way gold is putting up a fight at the moment is potentially giving some confidence to the market," Saxo Bank senior manager Ole Hansen said.
"But to make headwinds above the resistance area around $1,225 we need to see some real buying coming in."
Bullion was however still down around 0.3 percent for the week, having pulled back from Monday's seven-week top of $1,224.10 that was triggered by last week's weak U.S. employment report.
"We saw a technical move this morning that pushed prices above $1,200... but if we see some selling into the rally perhaps we can come back down again," Mitsubishi Corp strategist Jonathan Butler said.
