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* Spot gold looks neutral in $1,173-$1,182/oz range-technicals
* Silver, platinum, palladium set for weekly losses
(Adds comments, updates prices)
By Apeksha Nair
BENGALURU, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Gold eked out small gains inAsian trade on Friday after declining to a 19-month low in theprevious session, but the metal remained on track for itsbiggest weekly decline since mid-2017.
Spot gold
For the week, spot gold has shed 2.9 percent in what couldbe its sixth consecutive weekly decline. It hit its lowest sinceJanuary 2017 at $1,159.96 on Thursday on some aggressivestop-loss selling.
"Investors, businesses and perhaps a lot of people arelooking to pick up gold and that's why we're seeing somesupport," said Brian Lan, managing director at dealer GoldSilverCentral in Singapore.
A mild correction in the dollar, after the currency gainedagainst most peers this week, also lent support to gold'srecovery. A weaker dollar makes greenback-denominated goldcheaper for holders of other currencies.
The dollar edged further away from a 13-1/2-month high hitearlier this week, as risk aversion eased after China agreed tohold lower-level trade talks with Washington this month,offering hope that they might resolve an escalating tariff war.
Weakness in emerging-market currencies amid the Sino-U.S.trade spat and Turkey crisis has seen investors pour money intothe U.S. dollar, leading the greenback to serve as a safe-havenasset during uncertainty.
"The dollar is still trending higher and is the safe-havenvehicle of choice, so gold is still under pressure from thatsource," said Nicholas Frappell, general manager with ABCBullion.
"It's reasonable to expect (gold) prices to retrace some ofthe recent aggressive move-down in the short-term, but theredoesn't seem to be evidence for a sustained move higher yet."
Spot gold looks neutral in a range of $1,173-$1,182 perounce, and an escape could suggest a direction, Reuterstechnicals analyst Wang Tao said.
Meanwhile, trade-talk hopes kept Asian stocks buoyed onFriday, which also drew confidence from a sustained recovery inthe Turkish lira after it plunged to a record low earlier thisweek.
Finance Minister Berat Albayrak assured internationalinvestors on Thursday that Turkey would emerge stronger from itscurrency crisis, insisting its banks were healthy and signallingit could ride out a dispute with the United States.
Among other precious metals, silver
Platinum
Palladium
(Reporting by Apeksha Nair and Sumita Layek in Bengaluru;Editing by Amrutha Gayathri and Subhranshu Sahu) ((Apeksha.Nair@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 651 848 5832,outside U.S. +91 80 6749 6408/1298; Reuters Messaging:apeksha.nair.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))