PRECIOUS-Gold prices hit 1-week high amid Brexit turmoil
* Spot gold may edge up to $1,223/oz - Technicals
* Palladium up over 3 pct for the week so far
(Adds comment, updates prices)
By Eileen Soreng
BENGALURU, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Gold prices rose on Friday,having hit a one-week high earlier in the session, as investorssought safe-haven assets amid fears of a chaotic departure forBritain from the European Union.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May's draft Brexit plan ran intodispute after the resignation of key ministers from hergovernment and eurosceptic lawmakers stepped up efforts totopple her, provoking fears the country could crash out of theEU without a divorce deal."The issues around Brexit have invigorated a little bit ofsafe-haven buying in the market ... The focus of the market hasturned slightly to geopolitical issues at the moment," said ANZanalyst Daniel Hynes.
Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,214.93 per ounce,as of 0720 GMT. Earlier in the session, the bullion hit$1,216.79, its highest since Nov. 9.
Prices are expected to end the week higher after decliningnearly 2 percent last week.
U.S. gold futures were flat at $1,215.3 per ounce.
"Gold should continue to find demand on dips, provided theU.S. dollar remains in check," Stephen Innes, APAC trading headat OANDA in Singapore said in a note.
The dollar index , which measures the greenbackagainst a basket of six major currencies, was at 96.91, not farfrom a 16-month high of 97.69 hit at the start of the week. Investors also kept an eye on the U.S.-China trade tensionsas they looked for concrete signs the economic powers wereseeking to de-escalate their dispute."Prices may continue to struggle for direction in the nearterm as conflicting messages out of the White House cast doubton prospects for de-escalation in the U.S. trade war with Chinaeven as markets continue to worry about UK politics," said IlyaSpivak, a currency strategist for DailyFX.
Spot gold may edge up to $1,223 per ounce, to complete abounce triggered by a channel support around $1,192, saidReuters technical analyst Wang Tao. Among other precious metals, palladium edged 0.3percent lower to $1,153 per ounce, having hit a record high of$1,178.30 per ounce in the previous session.
Palladium is on track to mark its biggest weekly gain sinceSept. 21 having risen over 3 percent so far.
Silver was up 0.1 percent $14.30 per ounce. The metalrose about 1 percent so far this week.
Platinum climbed 0.1 percent to $842.20 an ounce butwas down about 1 percent for the week so far.
(Reporting by Eileen Soreng in Bengaluru; Editing by AmruthaGayathri, Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Rashmi Aich)
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