Singapore, Feb 16: Gold dropped on Friday but held above a key support of $ 660 an ounce, waiting f

Singapore, Feb 16: Gold dropped on Friday but held above a key support of $660 an ounce, waiting for leads from the currency market. Investec Australia pegged resistance at $670.

Spot gold eased to $668.00/668.70 an ounce from $669.00/669.70 an ounce late in New York and off a seven-month high of $671.85 an ounce hit on Wednesday.

Benchmark gold futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, currently December 2007, fell 14 yen per gram to 2,589 yen as a firm Japanese currency sparked selling.

The World Gold Council said in a report global gold demand in the fourth quarter climbed nearly 6 percent year-on-year, bolstered by investment interest and improved jewellery consumption. [ID:nN14304482] .The dollar was within sight of its lowest level in a month low against the yen after falling the previous session on surprisingly robust Japanese growth data and some soft U.S data.

The dollar was little changed at 119.30 yen and up slightly from a one-month low of 119.17 yen hit on electronic trading platform EBS on Thursday.

The euro held near a six-week high on EBS of $1.3173 hit on Thursday after the U.S. capital flows data.

Silver rose to $13.97/14.02 an ounce from $13.87/13.92 late in New York.

Platinum rose to $1,209/1,214 an ounce from $1,207/1,212 an ounce. Palladium eased to $340/345 from $342/345 an ounce.

Reuters