* Silver breaches $19 level for the first time since Sept
2014
* Platinum, palladium mark highest since mid-May
(Updates prices)
By Sethuraman N R and Vijaykumar Vedala
BENGALURU, July 1 (Reuters) - Gold rose on Friday and was
headed for its fifth straight weekly gain, boosted by a weaker
dollar as the safe-haven asset continued to be in demand despite
an increase in risk appetite post the Brexit vote.
The dollar pulled back against the yen and also fell
against a basket of six currencies, even as Asian stocks
rose on Friday as risk appetite continued to recover from last
week's Brexit shock.
Spot gold rose over 1 percent to touch a session high
of $1,336.20. It was up 0.7 percent at $1,331.51 an ounce by
0648 GMT. The yellow metal registered its biggest monthly rise
since February in June and was up 1 percent for the week so far.
U.S. gold rose as high as 1 percent to touch a
session best of $1,339 an ounce.
"It seems that investors are pushing both equities and gold
higher simultaneously. One of these will eventually have to
give, but for the moment, they each seem to be trading on their
own dynamics," said INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir.
ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes said bullion's upward rise was just
a continuation of its movement following the Brexit vote.
"The shock has actually passed but expectations of a rate
hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve for the short term has actually
fallen quite significantly in combination with the apparent
loosening of the monetary policy in Europe driving investor
demand," he added.
Societe Generale on Thursday raised its gold price forecasts
on fears over the ongoing political, financial and economic
fallout of Britain's vote last week to leave the European Union.
"Looking ahead, it seems that gold will remain one of the
major beneficiaries in the current backdrop, as heightened
volatility and lingering uncertainty will keep investors' risk
appetite in check," the bank said in a note.
Silver breached the $19 an ounce level to reach the
highest since September 2014. The white metal reached a high of
$19.40 earlier in the day and was trading up 2.4 percent at
$19.14. Silver, which has gained more than 8 percent this week,
is on track for its best week since August 2013.
"Gold has been on an uptrend and silver tends to catch up,"
said Brian Lan, managing director at Singapore-based gold dealer
GoldSilver Central.
Platinum marked its highest level since May 18 and
was on track for its best weekly rise since the end of April. It
was up 0.4 percent at $1,024.49.
Palladium, heading for its best week since early
March, rose to its highest since May 13, but fell one percent to
$588.95.
(Reporting By Nallur Sethuraman and Vijaykumar Vedala in
Bengaluru; Editing by Ed Davies and Christian Schmollinger)