* Good fund buying helps gold ahead of G20 meeting
* Gold rises on weak U.S. retail sales data
* Eurozone in recession in Q3
(Recasts, updates with quotes, market activity, closing
prices, adds NEW YORK to dateline)
By Frank Tang and Julie Crust
NEW YORK/LONDON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Gold futures ended more
than 5 percent higher on Friday as heavy buying by funds
triggered buy stops ahead of the Group of 20 summit meeting,
which could set a positive tone for the bullion market.
"Gold was oversold, and there was good fund buying in the
gold pit at market opening," said Jonathan Jossen, COMEX gold
options floor trader in New York.
Spot gold <XAU=> was at $746.65 at 2:22 p.m. EST (1922
GMT), up 1.6 percent from Thursday's close of $734.30.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery <GCZ8> settled up
$37.50, or 5.3 percent, to $742.50 an ounce on the COMEX
division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold jumped after the start of COMEX trading," said Tom
Kendall, precious metals strategist at Mitsubishi Corp. "It was
very quiet ahead of the U.S. rally and people are waiting to
see if anything positive will come out of the G20 meeting."
Bullion ended the week about $10 higher compared with its
last Friday's close of $735.95 as investors covered short
positions after prices teetered just above $700 an ounce on
Thursday.
"After the dip yesterday and late U.S. trading, we are back
where we started the week really," said Kendall.
Gold rebounded from earlier lows, which were a result of
lower oil prices and a stronger dollar, but trading was
rangebound ahead of the weekend summit of industrialized and
emerging nations on the global financial crisis.
Analysts said that bullion investors positioned themselves
for possible favorable news from the G20 summit that could
pause the dollar's resurgence and bolster gold.
The dollar has been rising as the market have flocked to
U.S. Treasury bills since August when markets realized the
financial crisis and economic slowdown could lead to a global
recession.
The euro zone economy fell into its first technical
recession in the third quarter, boosting expectations that the
European Central Bank would cut interest rates in December.
[]
However, dealers said they expected steady physical buying
from India, the world's main gold consumer, would also aid
prices during the traditional wedding season, which runs until
early 2009. []
Platinum <XPT=> fetched $838.00, up 2 percent from
Thursday's finish.
Prices of the metal used to make autocatalysts have plunged
about 64 percent since a record high of $2,290 hit in March.
Johnson Matthey <JMAT.L>, the world's top platinum refiner
and fabricator, will release its keenly awaited interim review
on Tuesday.
"Johnson Matthey has the potential to influence the price
of platinum and palladium in the sort term," said Kendall.
Palladium <XPD=> fetched $212.50, up 1.2 percent from its
previous close, and silver <XAG=> was at $9.51, up 1.4 percent
from Thursday's close.
(Reporting by Frank Tang; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
