SINGAPORE(BullionStreet): Gold remained steady in Asian trade Friday and heads for another weekly gain while platinum and palladium regained strength.

Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $1686.67 an ounce at 12.00 noon Singapore time while US gold for February was seen at $1686.82 an ounce on the comex division of nymex.

Analysts said the precious yellow metal is on the way to achieve it's biggest rise in two months.

Platinum and palladium regained their strength Friday and climbed near to multi-month highs hit in the previous session on upbeat U.S. economic data.

Platinum is on course for a weekly gain of over 3 percent in its third straight week of rises while palladium was expected to chalk up a 3.4-percent weekly gain.

Analysts added that investors are awaiting China's gross domestic product data for the last quarter of 2012 which is expected to show the country's annual economic growth may have quickened to 7.8 percent, snapping seven sessions of weaker expansion.

Gold futures settled higher Thursday, with disappointing data on manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region helping to boost the metal's safe-haven appeal.

February gold rose $7.60, or 0.5%, to settle at $1,690.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the highest settlement for gold futures since Dec. 17, according to FactSet