PRECIOUS-Gold slips as higher equities weigh despite rising virus cases

(Recasts, adds comments, updates prices)
* U.S. stocks gain on positive virus drug update
* Gold up about 1.4% so far this week
* Silver on track for 5th straight weekly rise

By Shreyansi Singh
July 10 (Reuters) - Gold fell on Friday as gains in U.S.
equities trimmed flows into bullion, which was still on track
for a fifth straight weekly gain after soaring to its highest in
nearly nine years this week on surging COVID-19 infections.
Spot gold prices XAU= slid 0.3% to $1,797.89 per ounce by
3:13 p.m. EDT (1913 GMT). U.S. gold futures GCv1 settled down
0.1% at $1,801.9.
On a weekly basis, gold has gained more than 1.4% after
rallying to its highest since September 2011 at $1,817.71 on
Wednesday.
"Gold has risen quite a bit in the past week along with
exponential flows in the ETFs," said George Gero, managing
director at RBC Wealth Management. GOL/ETF
"Now that the weekend is approaching with a strong equity
market, investors are taking advantage and booking profit to
take positions in riskier assets."
U.S. stocks advanced on Friday as a positive update from
Gilead's antiviral drug to treat COVID-19 countered nerves over
a record rise in U.S. coronavirus cases. .N
More than 60,500 new COVID-19 infections were reported
across the United States on Thursday, according to a Reuters
tally, the largest one-day increase in any country since the
pandemic emerged in China last year. Despite its pullback on Friday, the non-yielding metal has
risen over 18% so far this year. "Ten-year yields are still declining more than the inflation
expectations are declining, and that's been the driver behind
gold, and why we're seeing these kind of whip-saws on the day,"
said Daniel Ghali, commodity strategist at TD Securities.
Limiting bullion's losses, 10-year U.S. Treasury yields
US10YT=RR dropped to their lowest since late April. US/
In other metals, silver XAG= was little changed at $18.66
an ounce. It jumped to its highest since September 2019 on
Thursday, putting it on track for a fifth straight week of
gains.
Palladium XPD= gained 1.3% to $1,968.01 per ounce,
platinum XPT= was down 1.9% at $817.94 per ounce.