June 9( Reuters) - Gold eased on Friday on a stronger dollar, but held close to the previous session’s highs en route to a weekly gain helped by bets that the Federal Reserve could soon pause interest rate hikes.

Spot gold fell 0.3% to $1,962.34 per ounce by 5:52 a.m. ET (0952 GMT), but headed for a 0.8% weekly climb, having jumped about 1.5% after a surge in U.S. weekly jobless claims...[LINK]