By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Gold was down on Friday morning in Asia, as better-than-expected U.S. economic data canceled support from lower Treasury yields.

edged up 0.19% to $1,763.45 by 11:54 PM ET (3:54 AM GMT). The , which usually moves inversely to gold, edged up on Friday.

However, the safe-haven yellow metal was poised to post a second consecutive weekly gain and end its best week in five, supported by inflationary concerns over unprecedented fiscal stimulus and ultra-low interest rates globally.

U.S. Treasury yields fell to one-month lows on Thursday after the U.S. government slapped for alleged misdeeds including interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

Capping gold’s gains, however, was a higher-than-expected growth in March’s U.S. month-on-month and dropping to the lowest level since mid-March 2020.

In Asia, China continued its economic recovery from a COVID-19 downturn in 2020 but at a slower pace than expected. Economic data released earlier in the day said that GDP for the first quarter grew at 18.3%  and 0.6% and respectively in March. Meanwhile, grew 14.1% year on year.

Improving demand, both domestically and overseas, and continuous government support for SMEs gave the recovery a boost.

In other precious metals, silver was flat at $25.85 per ounce, but up for a second consecutive week. Palladium was steady at $2,741.84 but up about 4% for the week and platinum gained 0.5%.