Gold posts biggest gain in 6 weeks on Europe hopes

Gold and silver bars are pictured in front of a safe door at the Austrian Gold and Silver Separating Plant 'Oegussa' in Vienna August 26, 2011.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gold rose on Friday, posting its biggest weekly gain in six weeks, as optimism about European plans to contain the region's debt crisis and a dollar drop lifted bullion with riskier assets in a broad rally.

Bullion tracked U.S. stocks and industrial commodities such as copper and oil higher, as French and German officials are trying to finalize a crisis resolution plan at this weekend's G20 meeting in Paris. Also supporting was news that China's inflation dipped, easing worries of further tightening.

Optimism over plans to tackle the debilitating euro zone debt crisis, as well as strong U.S. retail sales and corporate earnings, helped prompt the traditionally safe-haven metal to move in tandem with equities.

"The correlation between gold and risk assets is going to trade fairly in tandem because they are working on the same catalyst -- the notion that easy monetary policy in Europe is going to lift equities and also gold," said Sean McGillivray, head of asset allocation in Great Pacific Wealth Management.

Spot gold was up 0.9 percent at $1,680.39 an ounce by 2:29 p.m. EDT.

The metal rose 2.5 percent for the week for a second weekly gain. The S&P 500 was on track to rise over 5 percent, while the dollar index .DXY lost almost 3 percent.

U.S. gold futures for December delivery settled up $14.50 at $1,683 an ounce.

Trading volume has been sharply below the norm all week long. The turnover of U.S. gold futures has topped the average daily volume of 17.5 million ounces of gold on just one trading day so far this month.

Analysts said there was a lack of conviction among bullion investors, while uncertainty over Europe continues.

Decreasing liquidity tends to result in elevated volatility, which in gold hit a 2-1/2 year high in the early part of this month before subsiding.

The 30-day correlation between gold and world equities turned positive for the first time in three months. And the inverse link between gold and the dollar was at its tightest since July, indicating lack of clear direction.

Gold ended above its 20-day moving average for the first time in a month, and technical analysts said bullion could retest its bearish double top set between late August and early September should prices rise above $1,700 an ounce.

RISK ASSET OR SAFE HAVEN?

Gold rose in lock-step with the S&P 500 for the week on hopes about progress to tackle the euro zone debt crisis, in spite of a downgrade to Spain's sovereign debt and a decision to grant Greece its agreed bailout money.

"Gold is no longer viewed exclusively as the anti-risk trade. Instead, gold has been moving in positive correlation with risk assets of late," UBS said in a note.

UBS said the bank's physical gold sales in India so far this year rose 10 percent, suggesting resilient buying interest in the world's biggest gold consumer despite higher prices.

Gold-backed exchange-traded funds showed no major changes in the metals they held, suggesting strong investment demand.

Among other precious metals, silver was up 1 percent at $32.07 an ounce, while platinum rose 1.2 percent to $1,545.48 an ounce, posting its biggest weekly rise in about two months and snapping five weeks of consecutive losses.

Palladium climbed 4.3 percent to $615.50 an ounce. It is up around 2 percent so far this week, reversing five weeks of decline.

2:29 PM EDT LAST/ NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT

SETTLE CHNG CHNG VOL US Gold DEC 1683.00 14.50 0.9 1662.50 1685.50 88,863 US Silver DEC 32.173 0.506 1.6 31.210 32.565 27,274 US Plat JAN 1554.90 22.50 1.5 1530.00 1564.60 5,290 US Pall DEC 620.55 26.45 4.5 590.30 623.50 2,662

Gold 1680.39 14.19 0.9 1662.10 1683.40 Silver 32.070 0.320 1.0 31.320 32.480 Platinum 1545.48 17.75 1.2 1530.50 1557.25 Palladium 615.50 25.62 4.3 593.00 619.75

TOTAL MARKET VOLUME 30-D ATM VOLATILITY

CURRENT 30D AVG 250D AVG CURRENT CHG US Gold 90,905 204,487 35.7 1.55 US Silver 29,071 54,312 83,471 68.24 -3.90 US Platinum 5,319 12,312 7,567 25 2.00 US Palladium 2,663 3,751 4,501

(Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper and Harpreet Bhal in London; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Andrea Evans)