* Gold falls 1.4 percent on stronger dollar, weaker oil
* U.S. economic data, G20 summit news will be keenly watched
* Eurozone in recession in Q3
(Adds comment/detail; changes dateline pvs SINGAPORE)
By Julie Crust
LONDON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Gold fell more than 1 percent on
Friday on the stronger dollar and lower oil prices, while
investors will be watching for any news from the Group of 20
summit and U.S. economic releases for further guidance.
"Gold is still fighting the headwinds of weaker oil and the
stronger dollar," said Nick Moore, strategist at Royal Bank of
Scotland.
Spot gold <XAU=> hit a low of $724.60 an ounce earlier
before paring losses to trade at $727.50/729.50 an ounce at 1127
GMT, from $734.30 an ounce in New York late on Thursday.
"We are coming up to the gifting season, and there is a
firmer tone across the board this morning and part of that is
preparing for the Christmas run up," Moore said.
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. []
However, trading is expected to be steady ahead of the
weekend summit of industrialised and emerging nations on the
global financial crisis, which has stirred fears of falling
demand for commodities and prompted investors to dump risky
assets, even including gold.
"The G20 meeting over the weekend will most likely create
another uncertainty and prompt short-term traders to square
off their positions before the weekend," said William Kwan,
bullion director at Gold Capital Management.
The market is also awaiting the latest U.S. economic figures
for further signs of the health of the world's largest economy.
U.S. retail sales in October are expected to fall 2.0
percent, compared with a 1.2 percent fall in September,
according to economists in a Reuters survey.
U.S. November preliminary consumer sentiment is also
anticipated to weaken to 56.0 from 57.6 in the final October
report. []
DOLLAR PRESSURE
The dollar's rise against the euro pressured gold prices.
[]
"We can continue to expect volatility for some time to come.
I think the U.S. dollar very much is the driver still," said
Darren Heathcote of Investec Australia in Sydney.
The dollar has been rising since August when markets
realised the financial crisis and economic slowdown would not be
confined to the United States.
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.
[]
Weaker oil prices also pushed gold lower. U.S. crude futures
for December <CLc1> were down 26 cents at $57.98 a barrel at
1117 GMT. []
Gold has laboured to sustain the uptrend since hitting a
two-month high of $931 in early October.
Platinum <XPT=> traded at $831.00/851.00 from 821.50 an
ounce.
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.
Palladium <XPD=> was at $214.00/222.00 from $210.00 on
Thursday and silver <XAG=> at $9.30/9.38 from $9.38.
(Reporting by Julie Crust; editing by Karen Foster)
