Gold inched higher Friday on a weaker dollar and optimism about the weekend's meeting of officials from the Group of 20 industrialized and developing economies.
The most actively traded contract, for December delivery, was recently up $11.80, or 0.7%, at $1,680.30 U.S. a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
October-delivery gold was up $13.30, or 0.8%, at $1,680.60 U.S. a troy ounce.
Finance officials from the world's leading economies are set to meet in Paris over the weekend, with some attendees considering increasing the International Monetary Fund's lending capacity so it can help with the euro-zone's debt crisis.
Both gold and equities took an upbeat tone ahead of the G-20 meeting, as the metal has been increasingly moving in step with riskier assets like stocks.
A weaker dollar added some sparkle to gold prices. The greenback slipped against a trade weighted basket of currencies, with the ICE Dollar Index falling to 76.606 from 77.036 late Thursday in New York.
Gold futures are priced in dollars and as the dollar weakens the contracts seem cheaper to investors who use foreign currencies.
Platinum and palladium prices will move higher by year end as prices are currently too low relative to the cost of producing these metals, said one expert. The metals have struggled to regain traction after a steep decline in September, when palladium prices plunged 22% and platinum slumped 18%.
Nymex platinum for January delivery was recently up $27.30, or 1.8%, at $1,559.70 U.S. a troy ounce.
Palladium for December delivery, the most active contract, was up $21.40, or 3.6%, at $615.50 U.S. a troy ounce on the Nymex.
Silver for December delivery, the most active contract, was up 74.3 cents, or 2.4%, at $32.41 U.S. a troy ounce.
