PRECIOUS-Gold rallies beyond $4,300/oz, set for best week in 17 years

By Ishaan Arora and Anmol Choubey

Oct 17 (Reuters) - Gold notched a new high above $4,300 an ounce on Friday and was poised for its best week in over 17 years, as signs of weakness in U.S. regional banks, global trade frictions, and firming rate-cut bets drove investors to the safe-haven metal.

Spot gold XAU= rose 0.8% to $4,359.31 per ounce, as of 0615 GMT, after scaling another record high of $4,378.69 earlier. U.S. gold futures GCcv1 for December delivery jumped 1.6% to $4,372.10.

Bullion has risen about 8.6% this week and is headed for its best week since September 2008, notching a record high in each session.

Spot silver XAG= rose 0.1% to $54.26 per ounce, set for an 8% weekly gain. Earlier in the session, prices reached a record high of $54.35, tracking the rally in gold and a short squeeze in the spot market.

"(For gold) $4,500 could arrive as a sooner-than-expected target, but much may depend upon how long concerns about U.S.-China trade and the government shutdown linger over the market for," said KCM Trade Chief Market Analyst Tim Waterer.

China levelled fresh accusations against the U.S. of causing panic over its rare earth controls, while rejecting calls to reverse export curbs.

Meanwhile, U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller voiced support for another rate cut due to labour market concerns.

Elsewhere, Wall Street closed lower on Thursday, with signs of weakness in regional banks spooking investors already on edge over U.S.-China trade tensions. MKTS/GLOB

"The flare-up in U.S. regional bank credit concerns has given traders one more reason to buy gold," Waterer said.

Non-yielding bullion, which tends to do well in a low interest rate environment, has gained more than 65% year-to-date, driven by geopolitical tensions, aggressive rate-cut bets, central bank buying, de-dollarisation and robust exchange-traded-fund inflows,

On the geopolitical front, U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Thursday to another summit on the war in Ukraine.

Western nations continued to pressure Russia over its oil sales, with Britain imposing sanctions on major Russian oil firms.

Platinum XPT= fell 0.7% to $1,699.45 and palladium XPD= fell 0.2% to $1,611.24. Both metals were headed for weekly gains.

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