* Palladium heads for best week since early November
* Gold up more than 0.9% this week (New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments)
By Brijesh Patel and K. Sathya Narayanan
March 19 (Reuters) - Gold rose on Friday, on track for a second weekly gain as U.S. Treasury yields dipped and dollar eased off session highs.
Spot gold XAU= rose 0.3% to $1,742.14 per ounce at 3:11 p.m. EDT (1911 GMT), and was up 0.9% this week.
U.S. gold futures GCv1 settled up 0.5% at $1,741.70.
"The 10-year rates have dropped a little bit and the dollar which was higher has also come off. We could see gold do a little bit better if the rates situation start to stabilize," said ED&F Man Capital Markets analyst Edward Meir.
The U.S. 10-year yields US10YT=RR eased after hovering near a more than one-year peak scaled in the last session. The dollar .DXY retreated from the session peak, which was its highest in more than a week. USD/ US/
"The expected growth prospects, continuation of the relatively low interest rate environment does bring about some fears of inflation," which is gold supportive, said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures. is often seen as a hedge against inflation, but higher yields have threatened that status. US/
On the technical front, "in the near term gold faces resistance around the $1,765/oz level," said Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) analyst Suki Cooper.
Meanwhile, the first high-level U.S.-China meeting of the Biden administration got off to a fiery start on Thursday, with both sides leveling sharp rebukes of the others' policies. fact that the talks did not go well could be a little bit supportive... (but) right now it is mainly a war of words," Meir said, pointing to the tit-for-tat tariffs the two sides had exchanged in the past. is seen as a safe haven during times of political uncertainties.
Elsewhere, palladium XPD= fell 1.9% to $2,630.59 per ounce, but was up 11% for the week - its biggest since early November.
Platinum XPT= dropped 0.9% to $1,196.51 an ounce, while silver XAG= rose 0.5% to $26.17.