PRECIOUS-Gold set for worst week since March, pressured by high yields

(Updates prices)
* Gold on course for more than 4% weekly fall
* We've gone a little too far, too fast -analyst
* Silver set to snap 9-week winning streak
* Investors await U.S.-China talks on Aug. 15
* Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus:
open
https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser

By Sumita Layek
Aug 14 (Reuters) - Gold fell on Friday, on track for its
worst week since March, as an uptick in U.S. Treasury yields and
a logjam over a U.S. stimulus bill to help the coronavirus-hit
economy dented the metal's allure.
Spot gold XAU= dipped 0.5% to $1,943.18 per ounce by 2:02
p.m. EDT (1453 GMT) and U.S. gold futures GCv1 settled down 1%
at $1,949.80.
After hitting a record peak of $2,072.50 on Aug. 7 and
rising over the previous nine weeks, bullion declined 4.5% this
week.
"The gold market had been in a parabolic state, so when you
throw a little pickup in yields along with the impasse on the
stimulus bill, it was going to see a bit of a retracement," said
David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures.
"We might have gone a little too far, too fast, and we
believe the market is in need of a pause, a consolidation. And
that's exactly what we are seeing."
Poor economic data from far and wide, including
disappointing U.S. retail sales, also did not help safe-haven
gold. The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield hovered near
seven-week highs, while hopes for a fresh round of U.S.
coronavirus relief faded as Congress went into recess.
US/ Higher yields increase the opportunity cost of holding
non-yielding assets such as bullion, which has climbed over 28%
so far this year.
"We're going to hit the all-time highs again on the
likelihood of a substantial stimulus package and the possibility
of chaos around the election is going to drive people into a
flight to safety," said Jeffrey Sica, founder of Circle Squared
Alternative Investments.
Among other metals, silver XAG= shed 4.7% to $26.24 per
ounce, set to snap a nine-week winning streak, down 7.2% so far.
Platinum XPT= fell 1.6% to $941.79 and palladium XPD=
eased 2.4% to $1,949.40.