By Ese Erheriene and Christian Berthelsen 

Gold prices edged back Friday from a one-year high set the day before as investors booked profits from a fear-driven surge since the start of the year.

Gold futures were down 0.7% at $1,239.60 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold prices registered their strongest gain in more than two years on Thursday as investors continued to recoil from global stocks, oil and other risk markets, and have gained 17% to start the year.

On Thursday, negative central bank interest rates, plummeting equity markets and expectations of a delay in the next U.S. interest rate rise saw demand for the safe-haven metal surge. Gold is seen as a safe store of wealth for those concerned about their assets losing value.

But on Friday, equity markets were back up and some investors booked their profits from its recent gains

"It's a natural progression from where it" was, said David Govett, head of precious metals trading at Marex Spectron. "[The market is thinking] 'OK, it's down a bit, let's take some profit.'"

This week, precious metal funds enjoyed the second-largest inflows since 2010, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Few investors are betting this year's bout of market turmoil is near its end, and gold could continue gaining from its status as a safe-haven. And the interest rate environment, where rates remain low or even negative, will continue to offer support, given higher rates make the metal less competitive against assets with yields.

"Risk aversion remains rife across the global markets and as such should invite an opportunity for investors to pile on the longs in a bid to attain protection against the volatile markets," said Lukman Otunuga, a research analyst at FXTM brokerage, in a note.

In other precious metal markets, silver was down 0.2% at $15.77 an ounce, platinum was down 0.4% at $959.10 an ounce and palladium was up 0.4% at $526.45 an ounce.

Write to Ese Erheriene at ese.erheriene@wsj.com and Christian Berthelsen at christian.berthelsen@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 12, 2016 10:49 ET (15:49 GMT)