"In the near term gold is finding some support in the dovish tone from central banks last week, notably the Fed and the Bank of Japan," said Jens Pedersen, senior analyst at Danske Bank.
Investors sought safety in gold, the yen and highly-rated government bonds, sending the 10-year US Treasury yield to a seven-week low.
Asian shares fell on Thursday in choppy trade, as positive Chinese manufacturing data was eclipsed by North Korea threatening a nuclear test and on below-view results from Apple Inc.
The rupee recovered from a weak open to gain to above 56 to the dollar on Friday, though broader sentiment was weak as the euro fell to a 2-year low, reflecting the worsening euro zone debt crisis and disappointing Chinese manufacturing data.
Ritesh Gandhi, Sr. Research Analyst, Commodity & Currency at Anand Rathi Commodities talks to CNBC-TV18 about the yellow metals in the commodity space.