PRECIOUS-Gold struggles for direction as dollar firms, equities dip

* Spot gold may fall towards $1,264 - analyst
* Silver hits 5-month low
* Palladium down 19% from record peak in March
* Platinum set to mark worst week in 10

(Updates prices)
By Brijesh Patel
May 17 (Reuters) - Gold price were mostly unchanged on
Friday after a steep fall in the previous session, with gains
curbed by a firmer dollar and a pullback in global equities on
U.S.-China trade tensions offering support.
Spot gold XAU= was steady at $1,285.67 per ounce as of
1158 GMT.
U.S. gold futures GCcv1 were little changed at $1,285.80
an ounce.
Spot gold fell 0.8% on Thursday, its biggest one-day
percentage decline since April, as investors became a little
more receptive to taking on risk following strong economic data
from the United States. "On one end, gold has support from prevailing uncertainties
in the financial markets relating to the trade talks and
concerns over growth outlook. At the same time, the dollar is
expected to stay strong for at least the next two weeks," said
Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke.
"Gold is expected to be rangebound."
The dollar index .DXY rose, holding near a two-week high
against a basket of currencies, making gold more expensive for
holders of other currencies. USD/
Meanwhile, world stocks pulled back after tough words on
trade from China. MKTS/GLOB
The Communist Party's People's Daily used a front page
commentary to evoke the patriotic spirit of past wars, saying
the trade war would never bring China down. A U.S. move to block China's Huawei Technologies HWT.UL
from buying vital American technology further ratcheted up
tensions over trade. Meanwhile, Thursday's sharp fall has dented the technical
picture for the metal.
"Bullion prices had broken the bearish trendline that had
marked the last few months," Carlo Alberto De Casa, chief
analyst with ActivTrades, wrote in a note.
"A clear recovery to the $1,300 level, and prices holding
above this psychological threshold, would confirm the supportive
scenario seen in the last two weeks, while a fall below $1,280
would be seen as a negative element."
Spot gold may break a support at $1,283 per ounce, and fall
towards the next support at $1,264, according to Reuters
technical analyst Wang Tao. Among other metals, silver XAG= was down 0.5% at $14.49 an
ounce, after hitting its lowest since Dec. 7 at $14.42 an ounce.
Silver is also on track for a decline of about 2% for the week.
Platinum XPT= dipped 0.7% to $823.95 per ounce, having hit
a two-month low at $818.50 earlier in the session.
Palladium XPD= slipped 0.7% to $1,320.91 an ounce. It has
slumped about 19% since the metal used in catalytic converters
in car exhaust systems hit a record high of $1,620.53 in March.
Both platinum and palladium are set to record weekly falls,
with platinum on course for its biggest such drop in 10 weeks.