Gold fell close to its lowest level in eight months on Friday (July 17) pressured by a strong dollar and increasing bets on a Federal Reserve rate rise this year while platinum hit lows not seen in more than six years.

Platinum broke below $1,000 an ounce mark for the first time since early 2009 due to oversupply, sluggish demand and weaker gold prices, which encouraged speculative selling, analysts said.

"Platinum is suffering from low liquidity and the kind of storm has been facing in the past few weeks has created some scepticism towards the metal," Saxo Bank Senior Manager Ole Hansen said.

Spot gold was down 0.2 per cent at $1,142.86 an ounce by 0946 GMT, just above Thursday's trough of $1,142.10, its lowest since November 2014.

It was on track for a two per cent weekly fall.

"If we take out the $1,140 in gold and we close below it, the shorts in both platinum and gold will still have the upper hand," Hansen said.

"Gold is finding a lot of headwinds from multiple sources: we have seen the Greek risk fade and the focus return to the US and Janet Yellen."

Non-interest-bearing gold, which is on track for a third year of losses, down more than three per cent so far, has been struggling ahead of an expected US rate hike, which would increase the opportunity cost of holding the metal.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told Congress the US central bank is on track to lift interest rates this year if the US economy expands as expected.

The dollar on Friday was set for its biggest weekly rise since May on strong US labour data, while European shares steadied after strong gains as Greece looked set to secure a bailout.

Gold's fall, however, failed to spur demand in top consumers in Asia with domestic prices in No. 2 market India remaining at a discount to global spot prices.

Palladium slipped one per cent to $623 an ounce after dropping to $622.50, its weakest since November 2012.

Spot silver was down 0.3 per cent at $14.93 an ounce, close to a seven-month low.

"If equities continue to push higher, and the U.S. dollar maintains its ascendancy, the precious complex could well come under severe pressure in the near term," MKS Group said in a note. - Reuters