* Silver hits fresh 1-1/2 year high
* Platinum up nearly 4 pct at $1,010/oz
(Updates prices; adds comment, second byline, NEW YORK
dateline)
By Marcy Nicholson and Clara Denina
NEW YORK/LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - Gold rose on Wednesday
as the dollar retreated and investor appetite for safe assets
remained strong because of longer-term financial uncertainty
after Britain's surprise vote to leave the European Union.
Silver rose to a 1-1/2-year high, while platinum and
palladium each rallied more than 3 percent.
Bullion was still below its Friday peak -- the highest since
March 2014 at $1,358.20 an ounce -- when the shock vote caused
gold prices to surge more than 8 percent as the metal is often
perceived as a hedge against economic and financial risk.
Spot gold XAU= was up 1 percent at $1,324.90 an ounce by
2:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT), while U.S. gold GCcv1 settled up 0.7
percent at $1,326.90. Spot silver XAG= gained 3.9 percent to
an 18-month high of $18.44.
"Although there are still big uncertainties ahead, looking
at the way equities have performed over the past couple of days,
a risk-on mentality is definitely coming back," Mitsubishi Corp
Jonathan Butler said.
"In the medium term, gold is going to be supported by the
unlikelihood that the Fed will raise rates in the next couple of
months."
Global stock markets continued to recover after last week's
hefty losses, while the dollar .DXY was down 0.5 percent
against a basket of leading currencies. MKTS/GLOB
"If Brexit is seen severely impacting the market, central
banks will step in to calm the markets, which would not be good
for gold," said Jiang Shu, chief analyst at Shandong Gold Group.
European leaders have asked Britain to act quickly to
resolve the political and economic confusion unleashed by the
so-called Brexit vote.
"People are really beginning to wake up to the
reverberations of Brexit, not just the U.K. but Europe, the
United States and the rest of the world," said Philip Diehl,
president of U.S. Money Reserve.
"Brexit is like a 7 on the Richter scale. Is this the big
shock or is this a foreshock of what's to come?"
Markets will continue to monitor U.S. economic data for
clues on the timing of the next rise in U.S. interest
rates.
"The uncertainty around Britain's vote has taken center
stage and unless U.S. payrolls data comes up much higher than
expected, I doubt it will change the Federal Reserve's timing of
rate increases," Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) analyst Carsten Fritsch said.
Low interest rates are positive for gold prices.
Platinum XPT= climbed 3.8 pct to its highest in three
weeks at $1,010.56 and palladium XPD= rose 4 percent to
$590.40, the highest since mid-May.