Gold eases after 2 pct rise, platinum at 3-wk low

 SINGAPORE, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Gold inched down on Friday
after rising more than  2 percent in New York as the euro
weakened against the dollar and equities markets extended
losses on worries about a global recession.

 -- Gold <XAU=> was trading at $743.35 an ounce, down $1.35
an ounce from its notional close in New York on Thursday, when
it hit an intraday high of $751.60 an ounce as physical buying
helped it defy selling in equities.

 -- Japan's Nikkei slid 1.3 percent on Friday to a
three-week low, as a stronger yen and an overnight plunge in
U.S. stocks prompted investors to dump exporters such as Sony
Corp (6758.T). [.T]

 -- The euro slipped to $1.2447 <EUR=> as investors sold
risky assets such as stocks and commodities financed by loans
denominated in the U.S. dollar. [USD/]

 -- Platinum <XPT=> was trading at $761.50 an ounce, down
$1.00 from New York's notional close. It dropped to a 3-week
low of $759.00 in early trade on Friday on recession worries
which threatened to cut demand for autocatalysts.

 -- Democratic congressional leaders, seeking to salvage a
bailout of the Big Three automakers, demanded executives
provide a business survival plan in exchange for their support
of up to $25 billion in loans. [ID:nN20421931]

 -- New York gold futures GCZ8 fell $4.2 an ounce to
$744.5.
 Precious metals prices at 0040 GMT  Metal             Last  
Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg  Turnover
 Spot Gold         743.35   -1.75   -0.23    -10.73
 Spot Silver         8.90   -0.05   -0.56    -39.74
 Spot Platinum     761.50   -1.00   -0.13    -49.90
 Spot Palladium    175.50    2.50   +1.45    -52.31
 TOCOM Platinum   2321.00 -126.00   -5.15    -56.53        
4700
 TOCOM Silver      268.10  -15.30   -5.40    -50.44         
199
 TOCOM Palladium   544.00  -56.00   -9.33    -59.73         
363
 Euro/Dollar       1.2448
 Dollar/Yen         93.99
 TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
 (Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)