NEW YORK, Sept 19 (Reuters) - COMEX gold rose Friday morning as bulls kept piling in and hopes mounted for a renewal of the Washington Agreement curbing central bank sales at this weekend's International Monetary Fund Meeting in Dubai.
At 0929 EDT, December gold was up $2.20 at $379.90 an ounce, helped up from the lows of a $380.60-$376.20 range as a bounce in the euro increased the bullion buying power of European investors.
Spot bullion was quoted at $379.55/0.25, up from $376.35/7.05 at Thursday's close. London bullion dealers fixed the morning spot reference price at $376.30.
Gold had been gunning for last week's 7-month high at $384.80 but pulled back Thursday after it could not get above $381.
"The downside failed because there is just a lot of buying down here," said a floor broker. "Maybe a lot of it has to do with silver's strength."
Gold has been tracking the euro's ups and downs against the dollar. But the market is mostly focused on Dubai talks starting Saturday, after weeks of speculation that the 1999 gold pact, which limited European government sales to 400 tonnes a year through September 2004, would be rolled over.
European finance officials have suggested that gold will be discussed on the sidelines of the meeting.
But there has been no official indication that it will be renewed this week, or that limits will be increased and more banks will be added as some expect.
The original pact helped lift gold from 20-year lows, by making central bank sales more predictable.
"Economic data and swings in the currency market continue to give the market short-term direction, but the growing focus seems to be the Central Bank Gold Agreement with a renewal of the policy likely to give gold a boost despite the large long position held by the specs/funds," analyst James Moore of TheBullionDesk.com wrote Friday.
December silver was up 3.0 cents at $5.295 an ounce, trading between $5.235 and $5.31. On Thursday it rose to $5.375, half a cent from last week's 3-year high at $5.38.
Spot silver was quoted at $5.25/27, up from $5.22/24. The fix was $5.20.
NYMEX October platinum was $2.30 easier at $696.50 an ounce. Spot was last indicated at $698.00/703.00.
December palladium firmed $3 to $219.50 an ounce. Spot was at $216.00/221.00.