• Gold prices slipped on Friday as the dollar rose against the yen after Japan offered to buy government bonds and attention shifted to key U.S. jobs data later in the day.
• Spot gold edged down 0.3 percent to $1,212.91 an ounce by 0557 GMT. U.S. gold futures fell 0.4 percent to $1,214.90.
• The dollar was up 0.2 percent at 113.04 yen after rising as high as 113.24 earlier.
• "Gold traded in a fairly tight range today, taking its cues largely from swings in the volatile dollar against yen," MKS PAMP Group trader Alex Thorndike said.
• The rally in Japanese government bonds suppressed gold, Thorndike said, although "support for gold remained in place."
• "Although we've had short term bids on gold due to uncertainty ... there is some very serious (technical) resistance around the $1,219-$1,221 area," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at brokerage OANDA in Singapore.
• "There would have been impulsive buying on the break of $1,221, but when it moved back down again, lots of guys would have turned and squared (positions) again," Halley said.
• Spot gold may retrace towards a support at $1,182 after failing to break a resistance at $1,219 per ounce, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
• Spot silver fell 0.8 percent to $17.30, after hitting its strongest in over 11 weeks at $17.73 in the last session.
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