Gold prices edged up but headed for a weekly fall on Friday as prospects of further interest rate rises dented its allure, while traders awaited a U.S. non-farm payrolls report due later in the day.

Spot gold was up 0.3% at $1,836.18 per ounce, as of 0909 GMT. Prices have fallen more than 1% this week.

U.S. gold futures also rose 0.2% to $1,838.70.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell this week suggested higher and possibly faster interest rate rises would be needed to curb inflation.

Gold prices have retreated this week given the anticipation of an aggressive rate rise following those hawkish remarks, said Jigar Trivedi, analyst with Mumbai-based Reliance Securities.

"But the yellow metal has strong technical support near $1,810-$1,790 an ounce and we may see a bounce back to $1,875 next week."

Bullion is known as an inflation hedge but rising rates increase the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding asset.

The focus of investors shifts to U.S. non-farm payrolls (NFP) data due at 1330 GMT for further clues as to the Fed's rate path. According to economists polled by Reuters, the report is expected to show non-farm payrolls increased by 205,000 in February.

If the data is weak, then gold could benefit and might rise to the $1,850-$1,860 range, said Carlo Alberto De Casa, external analyst at Kinesis Money.

Meanwhile, data on Thursday showed U.S. weekly jobless claims registered the largest rise in five months, but the underlying trend remained consistent with a tight labour market.

The dollar index slipped 0.1% but was on course for a weekly gain. A stronger U.S. currency tends to make gold a less attractive bet.

Spot silver gained 0.2% to $20.12 per ounce and on was track for weekly fall of more than 5%.

Platinum shed 0.7% to 937.91 and was set for biggest weekly decline since November 2022. Palladium lost 1% to $1,375.13.

(Reporting by Arpan Varghese and Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru; editing by Robert Birsel)