Gold on track for weekly rise as Middle East risks loom [Video]

Gold prices held firm on Friday, on track for a fifth consecutive weekly rise, as fears of further tit-for-tat retaliation between Iran and Israel triggered safe-haven demand.

Spot gold was little changed at $2,378.30 per ounce as of 9:10 a.m. ET (1310 GMT), after rising as high as $2,417.59 earlier in the session. Prices were up more than 1% this week.

U.S. gold futures eased 0.2% at $2,393.50.

Explosions echoed over an Iranian city early on Friday in what sources described as an Israeli attack, but Tehran played down the incident and indicated it had no plans for retaliation.

“The escalation and de-escalation situation in the Middle East has taken hold of the markets. If the situation does de-escalate, then gold will pull back or consolidate as safe-haven buying dries up,” said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures.

“However, longer term, higher uptrend in gold will continue as the Federal Reserve might not …