As fears of a major escalation of the Middle East crisis abated, gold was little changed on Friday ahead of the release of a key US inflation report, but prices are on track for their first weekly decline in six weeks.

Spot gold rose 0.1% to $2,334.57 per ounce at 0409 GMT. US gold futures rose 0.2% to $2,346.70

For the week, gold prices fell by 2.3%, poised for their biggest weekly drop since the beginning of December after a major escalation of the crisis in the Middle East was avoided. Prices have lost nearly $100 compared to the all-time high of $2,431.29 reached on April 12. According to Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG, prices are now somewhat stable as they remain sensitive to expectations about rate cuts, especially after “American economic data released last night provided a certain dilemma with a significant weakening of growth, while inflationary pressures were

Spot silver rose 0.2% to $27.49 per ounce, spot platinum rose 0.8% to $921.45, and palladium gained 1.4% to $988.22 per ounce. All three metals headed for weekly declines