* Gold on track for weekly rise
* Palladium, silver on course for 2nd straight weekly fall
* Platinum on track for 3rd consecutive week of declines
By Arijit Bose
May 10 (Reuters) - Gold prices held firm on Friday, drawing support from increased trade tensions after U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff increase on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods took effect, putting the bullion on track for a weekly gain.
Spot gold XAU= was steady at $1,284 per ounce at 0705 GMT and is up about 0.4% for the week.
U.S. gold futures GCv1 were also firm at $1,285 an ounce.
U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff increase to 25 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods took effect on Friday, and Beijing said it would strike back, ratcheting up tensions as the two sides pursue last-ditch talks to try salvaging a trade deal. U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators concluded the first of two days of talks on Thursday to rescue a trade deal that is close to collapsing as Washington goes ahead with plans to hike tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of goods imported from China. is still some level of uncertainty surrounding the U.S.-China trade deal, and when gold tends to go down there seems to be opportunistic buying," said John Sharma, economist at National Australian Bank.
The metal had fallen to its lowest since the end of December late last week, but has since risen nearly 1.4%.
However, climbs in gold have been somewhat muted despite broad risk-aversion in the market, with other safe havens such as the yen JPY= and Swiss Franc CHF= gaining. MKTS/GLOB FRX/
"A lot of the (influence from) trade talks was priced in, and for gold to rise more sustainably we need to see some more weakness in the (broader financial) market," said Sharma.
"There was some concern about global growth, but there still hasn't been any news that confirms the economy is going to be much slower."
Gold was also facing a barrier around $1,290 levels, restricting buying from traders who follow technical charts, analysts said.
"Support (for gold) remains evident around $1,280, while $1,290-$1,295 sees resistance. The yellow metal is continuing to see interest around $1,280 levels," MKS PAMP Group said in a report, adding that bullion also found plenty of sellers around $1,286 during the Asian session.
Spot gold is targeting a range of $1,267-$1,274 as it failed to break resistance at $1,291 per ounce, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao. palladium XPD= rose 1% to $1,307 an ounce, having fallen over 4% in the previous session to its lowest since Jan. 4 at $1,263.85. The metal is still on track for its second straight weekly decline.
Silver XAG= edged up 0.2% to $14.78 per ounce, while platinum XPT= rose 1.6% to $858.
Silver is on course to register a second straight week of declines, while platinum looks set for a third weekly drop in a row.