Gold futures advanced on Friday as deepening concern over Greece debt default spurred demand for the metal as a safe haven investment.

Spot gold was seen trading at $1525.00 and gold futures for June delivery rose to at $1,526.40 an ounce.

Gold declined on Thursday following sharp sell-off in the silver market, but found support by safe haven demand amid the worsening euro zone debt crisis and weaker-than-expected consumer spending data that indicated weakness in the U.S. economy.

Investors opt for the safe heaven after the news that the IMF may withhold their part of the aid from the next tranche of loans set to be disbursed to Greece. That disbursement is depended on Greece passing an IMF/EU review, which is due out Friday.

The International Monetary Fund may withhold the next slice of aid to Greece due next month, the head of euro zone finance ministers said on Thursday.

Adding to support, the dollar declined against major currencies after reports showed that US economy growth in first quarter left unrevised and jobless claims rose sharply last week.

The euro advanced 0.705 percent to $1.4242 against the dollar and greenback declined 0.41 percent to Y80.94 against the yen.

The US Commerce Department report on Thursday showed that US GDP grew at an unrevised rate of 1.8 percent in the first quarter this year, compared with market expectations of 2.1 percent growth.

The Department of Labor reported that initial jobless claims gained by 10,000 to 424,000 for the week ended may 21 from the previous week's revised figure of 414,000, while economists expected 400,000.

The 4-week moving average of initial claims decreased 1,750 to 438,000 from the previous week's revised average of 440,250.

Gold IMF Gdp Greece debt