SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold steadied on Friday but largely retained losses made a day earlier when the metal suffered its biggest slide in five months after the Federal Reserve hiked U.S. rates for the first time in nearly a decade.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold > ticked up 0.3 percent to $1,053.96 an ounce by 0051 GMT as the dollar eased on profit taking following sharp gains.
* The metal slid 2 percent on Thursday, its biggest one day slide in five months. It is down 2 percent for the week in its worst weekly performance in six weeks.
* Gold has come under intense sell off since the Federal Reserve raised the range of its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, ending a lengthy debate about whether the economy was strong enough to withstand higher borrowing costs.
* The move sent the dollar to a two-week high on Thursday against a basket of major currencies.
* On the other hand, gold saw little interest, with investors sending the yellow metal to $1,047.25 in the previous session, close to a near-six-year low.
* Gold has tumbled 11 percent this year, largely on uncertainty around the timing of the rate rise and on fears that higher rates would hit demand for the non-interest-paying metal.
* Many are predicting further drops. Gold is likely to test the key $1,000 level soon, technical analysts said.
* Assets in SPDR Gold Trust
* Hedge funds' net short positions in COMEX gold futures reached record levels this month.
* Other precious metals were all struggling due to the robust dollar.
* Silver > held on to an overnight slump of 3 percent, its biggest one day drop in nearly three months, while platinum > eased after posting its biggest slide in a year. Both the metals were headed for weekly declines.
* With a 2 percent gain, palladium > was the best performer among the precious metals this week, though it did decline overnight by 2.5 percent.
MARKET NEWS
* Asian shares took their cue from Wall Street and slipped on Friday, but were still on track for gains in a week marked by a depreciating yuan in China and the first U.S. interest rate hike in nearly a decade.
(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Ed Davies)
