* Spot gold seen rising to $1,182/oz -technicals
* Platinum hits near 8-week high
* Palladium up 9.6 pct so far this week (Updates prices, adds comment)
By Sethuraman N R
Jan 5 (Reuters) - Gold touched its highest in four weeks on Thursday as the U.S. dollar stepped further away from a 14-year peak hit earlier this week, and on a technical rebound.
Spot gold XAU= was up 1.3 percent at $1,178.36 an ounce by 0641 GMT. It touched a high of $1,178.62, its best since Dec. 7.
U.S. gold futures GCcv1 climbed 1.2 percent to $1,178.50 per ounce.
The dollar index .DXY , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was down 0.7 percent at 102.030. FRX
"It's more of a dollar sell-off than a gold move," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at brokerage OANDA in Singapore.
"The dollar is weak across the board and gold itself has technically broken out of its down channel in December."
Spot gold has risen 5 percent from the more-than 10-month lows touched in December.
Spot gold is expected to rise to $1,182 per ounce, according to Reuters' market analyst for commodities and energy technicals, Wang Tao. firmer dollar curbs demand for commodities priced in the greenback by making them more expensive for holders of other currencies.
Buying from China, the biggest consumer of the yellow metal, is also supporting the recent rally.
"The Chinese New Year is around the corner. Gold kilobar demand is picking up right now with strong premiums in the mainland," a precious metals trader in Japan said.
Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, were unchanged on Wednesday at 813.87 tonnes. They have dropped about 14 percent since the U.S. presidential election in November.
Spot silver XAG= was up 1.5 percent at $16.66. It earlier hit a 3-week high of $16.70.
Platinum XPT= , which rose to a near 8-week high of $960.10, was 2 percent higher at $959.
Palladium XPD= rose more than 1 percent to hit a near 4-week high of $747.80.
"Palladium prices have been rising on the back of strong December car sales in the U.S.," the Japan-based trader said.
Palladium is widely used to clean up exhaust emissions from gasoline-powered vehicles.
The metal has risen 9.6 percent so far this week, its best since the week ending July 1.