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COMEX gold ends down despite Istanbul bombings

NEW YORK, Nov 20 (Reuters) - COMEX gold ended lower Thursday after knee-jerk buying in the wake of devastating bomb attacks in Istanbul fizzled before prices could climb back to $400 an ounce.

An evacuation of the White House briefly added to gold's safe-haven luster in the morning but proved to be a false alarm. So after another failed rally, further gains seemed to depend on geopolitical instability continuing to erode confidence in the dollar, dealers said.

December gold ended down $1.20 at $393.70 an ounce bouncing from $392.00. It topped at $397.50, within striking distance of Wednesday's 7-1/2-year high of $400.70 in Asia.

"I think next week is the week when we go over $400," said Leonard Kaplan, president of Prospector Asset Management. "The gold market usually backs and fills and unlike most people I don't see an explosion over $400. The funds, being very heavily long, are going be scale-up sellers all the way."

The attacks in Turkey, held up as a model secular Islamic state by its Western allies, wrecked the British consulate and the HSBC Bank headquarters, killed at least 27, including Britain's consul general, and injured 440.

Turkey called the blasts an apparent suicide strike against British interests. They sent shock waves through global financial markets, coming five days after 25 died in the bombing of two Jewish synagogues in Istanbul.

"The stuff in Turkey has been taken very seriously and shows once again how vulnerable the Western world is to this kind of stuff," said a gold trader at a refining company. "It scares people a lot, what happened today."

Gold fell back when the initial White House scare turned out to be caused by a "blip" on a radar screen, not an airspace violation.

Trading has been extremely choppy in recent days and dealers remained wary of the heavy selling above $400 Wednesday, when the contract ended down $2.70.

Dealers said anything could happen with the weekend approaching, options expiring on Monday and positions being rolled over before December delivery notices start Wednesday, ahead of a four-day U.S. weekend for Thanksgiving.

They were watching the dollar, which hit its lowest levels yet against the rallying euro on Wednesday. At $1.1910/12 late Thursday, the euro remained near Wednesday's $1.1977 high.

"To me $1.20 is a psychological number," said Robert Gottlieb, head of bullion trading at HSBC in New York. "I think $1.20 would certainly help (gold). If not, I think the market is a little nervous. People have taken a couple hits here and there with the volatility."

Spot gold eased to $393.30/4.00 from the previous close at $394.50/5.00. London's afternoon fix was at $394.30.

December silver fell 0.8 cent to $5.252 an ounce, trading in a $5.35 to $5.235 range. Spot silver fetched $5.25/27, down from $5.26/28. It fixed at $5.265.

At the NYMEX, January platinum slipped $1.30 to $766.70 an ounce, consolidating under Tuesday's contract high at $779. Spot platinum fetched $763.00/768.00.

December palladium fell $1.75 to $196.50 an ounce. Spot was at $190.50/196.50.