* Gold boosted as Fed signals caution on rates
* Platinum soars more than 4 percent to 3-week high
* Palladium jumps to four-month high
(Adds comment, byline, NEW YORK dateline; updates prices)
By Marcy Nicholson and Mariana Ionova
NEW YORK/LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Gold rose to a seven-week
high on Friday after minutes from the Federal Reserve's last
policy meeting showed the U.S. central bank was in no hurry to
raise interest rates, pressuring the U.S. dollar.
Spot gold XAU= was up 1.6 percent at $1,156.70 an ounce at
2:44 p.m. EDT (1844 GMT), after touching a peak of $1,159.80,
its highest since Aug. 24. It is on course to gain 1.5 percent
this week.
The U.S. futures contract for December delivery GCA5
settled up 1 percent at $1,155.90 an ounce.
Prices were supported by Fed minutes released on Thursday,
suggesting the central bank was deeply cautious about tightening
monetary policy even before last week's soft jobs data showed a
sharp slowdown in U.S. hiring.
"There is less of a sentiment in the market that an interest
rate hike will take place anytime soon," said Bernard Dahdah,
metals analyst at Natixis. "The data that has come out of the
U.S. lately hasn't been very positive."
But the market remained somewhat cautious, taking note that
the minutes also revealed most Fed policymakers thought the
central bank's first rate increase in nearly a decade should
still come in 2015.
Weak U.S. economic data and worries about the global economy
have prompted many to push back expectations for an interest
rate hike, which has helped gold rise nearly 4 percent so far
this month.
The U.S. dollar hit multi-week lows against the euro and
Swiss franc while stocks on major world markets were on track
for their biggest weekly gain since 2011. GLOB/MKTS USD/
Precious metals with industrial uses garnered some support
from the surging base metal prices, such as copper and zinc,
after commodities group Glencore (LONDON:GLEN) said it would cut its zinc
output by a third. MET/L
Platinum XPT= rallied 4.2 percent to $983 a tonne, the
highest since Sept. 18, and was on track to close the week up
7.7 percent, its strongest in four years after Glencore's
announcement that it will shut its Eland platinum mine in South
Africa. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N12737X
"The market was ripe for a bit of short covering. Platinum's
been beaten down for quite some time now," said one U.S.
refiner.
"The dollar has weakened a bit and that has definitely
helped precious metals. We might not see an interest rate in
2015 now."
Palladium XPD= rose as much as 3.4 percent to a four-month
high at $722 an ounce, heading for its fifth straight weekly
gain.
Silver XAG= was up 0.8 percent at $15.78 a tonne.
(Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and David Evans; Editing by Diane
Craft)