Picture used for illustrative purpose. File

Gulf Today Report 

Gold prices dropped on Friday due to bullion facing pressure from dollars after positive US economic data.

Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,724.03 per ounce by 04:20 GMT on Friday while US gold futures were down 0.1% at $1,722.70 per ounce. 

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According to IG Market analyst, "gold is a victim of the kind of recovery that we could be potentially seeing in the US dollar ... Better recovery unfolds so that's driving flows into US assets and pushing the dollar higher and that's what's really weighing on gold at the moment."

Gold has declined below 1% following a jump by the US dollar on Thursday.

"The success of the vaccine roll-out appears to be slightly 'risk on' and this may help gold if the dollar retreats slightly," said Nicholas Frappell, global general manager at ABC Bullion.