Gold eyes worst week since Mar

Gold edged higher on Friday after losing more than 1 percent in the prior session, but was on track for its biggest weekly decline since March as a firmer U.S. dollar cut the metal’s draw.FUNDAMENTALS*Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,265.61 an ounce by 0116 GMT, after dropping 1.1 percent on Thursday. It has lost 1.8 percent so far for the week, the most since the week ended March 25.* U.S. gold for June delivery GCcv1 slipped 0.3 percent to $1,267.40 an ounce.* The dollar was up for a fourth week in five against a basket of major currencies, making dollar-denominated assets such as gold more costly for holders of other currencies.* The greenback got a boost overnight after Boston Federal Reserve President Eric Rosengren said the Fed should raise interest rates if data confirms a stronger jobs market and inflation outlook in the second quarter.* But gold has gained more than 19 percent in 2016 as a run of soft economic data in the United States and around the world allayed expectations that the Federal Reserve would press ahead with interest rate hikes in the near term. The U.S. policymakers meet next in June.* Underlining optimism towards bullion, holdings of SPDR Gold Trust GLD, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, stood at 27.17 million ounces on Thursday, the highest since November 2013.