Gold on Friday held steady near a three-week low hit in the previous session on a firmer dollar and strong U.S. economic data, and was headed for a second straight weekly fall.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was nearly flat at $1,254 per ounce by 0106 GMT. It hit its weakest since May 24 at $1,251.18 on Thursday. The metal has fallen nearly 1 percent so far this week.

* U.S. gold futures for August delivery rose 0.1 percent, to $1,256 per ounce.

* Asian stocks were steady, while the dollar held near a two-week high after solid economic data backed the case for tighter U.S. monetary policy.

* India gold imports surged to nearly $5 billion from $3.85 billion a month ago. Year-on-year, the import of the precious metal more than trebled, government data showed on Thursday.

* Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund fell 0.14 percent to 853.68 tonnes on Thursday.

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