* Palladium only $56 from parity with gold
* GRAPHIC-2018 asset returns: (Updates prices)By Sumita Layek and Swati VermaBENGALURU, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Gold rose to a one-week highon Friday as the dollar softened, while palladium held near arecord high close to the price of bullion.The surge in palladium, used as an emissions-reducing autocatalyst for vehicles, reflected speculative buying driven byexpectations of increased demand in a tight market, analystssaid.Spot gold was up 0.3 percent at $1,216.11 an ounce by1309 GMT, having touched its highest since Nov. 9 at $1,218.33.U.S. gold futures gained 0.2 percent to $1,216.9.
"Investors are a bit more interested in gold ... themomentum is up, we may go to $1,250 in the short term," said ABNAMRO analyst Georgette Boele.The dollar eased to 96.76 against a basket of majorcurrencies after British Prime Minister Theresa May clungto her Brexit plan despite the resignations of senior ministers. A weaker dollar makes bullion cheaper for holders of othercurrencies.
"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 greenback has emerged as a dominant safe-haven assetthis year on the back of a U.S.-China trade dispute, denting theappeal of gold, which has fallen 11 percent from an April peak.Palladium edged 0.3 percent higher to $1,160.55 anounce, having hit a record high of $1,178.30 in the previoussession. It was on track for its biggest weekly gain since Sept.21, up more than 4 percent since the start of the week.Palladium is the only precious metal on track for a gain forthe year."Prices are mainly driven by speculative traders and trendfollowers in the futures market, partly due to expectations ofstimulus in China," said Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke."In the medium to longer term, I do not think these pricelevels are sustainable ... also assuming we do get some sort ofstimulus in China that pulls more and more demand into thepresent and weighs on the future demand outlook for the Chinesecar market."Car dealers in China have been pushing for Beijing tosupport the sector, including a proposal to cut the purchase taxon some smaller cars. Silver was down 0.2 percent at $14.25 an ounce, oncourse for a weekly gain of about 1 percent.
Platinum fell 0.6 percent to $836, down more than 1percent so far this week. (Reporting by Sumita Layek, Swati Verma and Arpan Varghese inBengaluru; Editing by Dale Hudson and David Goodman)
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