Gold prices ticked up Friday as market sentiment edged away from safety to risk, but there was little evidence the yellow metal was ready to break out of its recent trading range.

Investors eyed a Paris meeting where financial leaders from the world's top 20 economies were hammering out a rescue plan for the continent's banks.

Hope that they would make believable progress - that is, creating something big enough, detailed enough and soon enough - emboldened traders to buy European stocks.

That lifted the euro, at the expense of the dollar, and buoyed U.S. stock futures, which indicated a higher open for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Whether the market's hope-du-jour can survive next week remained an open question given its volatility and penchant for mood swings.

Gold, which has been moving with stocks, followed equities modestly higher, giving a boost to prices for silver, palladium and platinum.

Purchases of gold in India, for an important religious holiday, and China plus the purchases of safe-haven investors whose mood rarely swings away from negativity about the European and U.S. economies also lifted gold prices.

Gold for December delivery edged up $7.20 to $1,675.50, while cash gold slipped $1.01 to $1,672.29

Silver for December delivery added 23 cents to $31.67, while cash silver fell 25 cents to $31.87.

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