Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange further hiked on Friday, buoyed up by a weaker U.S. dollar, reversing earlier weakness and bringing the metal's weekly gain to 0.4 percent.

The most active gold contract for April delivery rose 19.9 dollars, or 1.2 percent, to settle at 1,662.4 U.S. dollars per ounce.

Friday's gold hike was a notable contrast to a two-month low on Thursday, signaling continuing appeal of the precious metal and giving a boost to the bull camp.

Some traders say that gold has lost some of its safe-haven appeal lately after the U.S. Federal Reserve Open Market Committee on March 13 pointed to an improving U.S. economy and a likely end to quantitative easing policies.

Analysts say that Friday's gains in gold were primarily due to the weakness of the U.S. dollar as well as rising crude oil prices. Disappointing U.S. New Home Sales also helped gold Friday, as a sale of 313,000 units was 17,000 below traders' expectations and stoked doubts about a recovery in the U.S. housing market.

Traders continued to watch a proposed import duties measure in India that originally sought to double duties on gold.

Silver saw even greater gains than gold Friday. Silver for May delivery rose 92.7 cents, or 2.96 percent, to close at 32.272 dollars per ounce. April Platinum rose 15.8 dollar, or one percent, to close at 1,627.9 dollars per ounce.