* Gold trades near 5-week lows below $1,300/oz     * Dollar up after strong U.S. durable data     * European, U.S. shares fall   (Updates prices, adds comment)     By Clara Denina      LONDON, July 25 (Reuters) - Gold edged up on Friday but not far off a five-week low, and was headed for a second straight week of losses, as a strong dollar after robust economic data offset a fall in equities due to rising political tensions.     Spot gold  
   XAU=
    was up 0.2 percent at 1,294.36 an ounce by 1409 GMT, after losing nearly 1 percent on Thursday, when it hit its lowest since June 19 at $1,287.46.     U.S. gold futures  
   GCcv1
    were up $4.00 to $1,294.80 an ounce.     The dollar was up 0.1 percent against a basket of currencies, gaining support from a bigger-than-expected increase in U.S. durable orders in June.  
   ID:nL2N0PZ2NH
        The market awaited the release of July U.S. non-farm payrolls and the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, both scheduled for next week.  
   ECONUS
         "In the short term, movements in the dollar, the FOMC meeting and a new series of U.S. economic data will dictate the price of gold," Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann said.     European shares were weighed by weak German economic data, while U.S. stocks opened lower after soft company earnings results.  
   MKTS/GLOB
        Gold has lost 1.3 percent of its value so far this week, following a two percent fall in the previous week, mostly on speculation that an improving employment sector in the United States could signal an early rate increase by the Federal Reserve. Higher interest rates would encourage investors to switch to assets that, unlike gold, pay interest.     "The little bounce at the moment is just due to players covering a few shorts after gold managed not to breach the 200-day moving average at $1,286 in the previous session, which has been a focal point in numerous occasions over the past few months," Saxo Bank senior manager Ole Hansen said.     Gold had managed to stay above $1,300 an ounce for most of this week as violence continued in Gaza, and tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine remained high.     As a gauge of investor sentiment, holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust  
   GLD
   , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 3.6 tonnes on Thursday - the biggest one-day drop in more than a month.  
   GOL/ETF
        In the physical market, buying picked up slightly in the previous session as prices dipped below $1,300, but demand was still much weaker than was seen last year.      Silver, platinum and palladium were also headed for weekly losses, with spot silver  
   XAG=
    down 1.6 percent for the week. It was up 0.3 percent at $20.38 an ounce, having touched its worst since June 19 at $20.26 in the previous session.     Platinum  
   XPT=
    was up 0.5 percent at $1,470 an ounce, while palladium  
   XPD=
    rose 1 percent to $875.75 an ounce.   (Additional reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi in Singapore; Editing by William Hardy and Pravin Char)  ((clara.denina@thomsonreuters.com)(+44 207 542 9420)(Reuters Messaging: clara.denina.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))  Keywords: MARKETS PRECIOUS/