* Dollar edges further back from a 14-year peak
* Platinum hits near 8-week high
* Palladium on track for biggest weekly rise since July (Updates throughout, adds LONDON dateline)
By Clara Denina
LONDON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Gold touched its highest in four weeks on Thursday as the dollar slipped further from a 14-year peak hit earlier this week.
Spot gold XAU= rose as much as 1.4 percent to its highest since Dec. 7 at $1,179.36 an ounce and was up 0.7 percent at $1,171.46 by 1128 GMT.
U.S. gold futures GCcv1 climbed $6.90 to $1,172 an ounce.
Spot prices are heading for a near two percent gain for the week so far, having benefited from a halt in the dollar's rise.
"Although the wider picture hasn't changed and U.S. growth is improving, there shouldn't be any further significant appreciation in the dollar after the strong run of the past few months and given uncertainty about economic policy changes going forward," Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) analyst Daniel Briesemann said, adding this should be supportive for dollar-denominated gold.
The best performing precious metal this week was palladium XPD= , which posted a 7.8 percent weekly increase so far, its biggest since July.
The metal, mostly used to clean exhaust emissions from gasoline-powered catalysts, has been bought in anticipation of record-high vehicle sales in the United States and was also boosted by a lower dollar, analysts said.
U.S. car sales December data on Wednesday showed sales of new cars and trucks rose to a record in 2016. dollar .DXY fell 0.2 percent against a basket of six main currencies. FRX
Minutes from the Federal Reserve's December meeting showed almost all policymakers thought the economy could grow more quickly due to fiscal stimulus under the Trump administration.
At the same time, Fed policymakers "emphasized their considerable uncertainty" about future economic policy changes. gold fell more than 8 percent in November and touched a 10-month low in December, on a higher dollar and U.S. Treasury yields after Donald Trump's election win and as the Fed raised interest rates for the first time in a year. It has now increased around 5 percent from its lows.
Buying from China, the biggest consumer of the yellow metal, is also supporting the recent rally, traders said.
"The Chinese New Year is around the corner. Gold kilobar demand is picking up right now with strong premiums in the mainland," a precious metals trader in Japan said.
Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, were unchanged on Wednesday at 813.87 tonnes. They have dropped about 14 percent since the U.S. presidential election in November.
Spot silver XAG= was up 0.7 percent at $16.54, after hitting a 3-week high of $16.70.
Platinum XPT= , which rose to a near 8-week high of $960.10, was 1.6 percent higher at $955.30.