* Gold ticks up on higher oil, bargain hunting
* Investors await CPI and jobless claims data
(Updates prices)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Gold advanced on Thursday
after a jump in oil prices triggered bargain buying, but it
struggled to sustain early gains, which suggested bullion was
not out of the woods yet after tumbling to this year's lows on
Tuesday.
Other precious metals tracked gold's gains to defy a rising
dollar. Investors await the release of the U.S. July consumer
price index and weekly jobless claims data that could set the
tone for the greenback.
Gold <XAU=> rose to $831.40/832.30 an ounce from
$825.85/826.85 late in New York on Wednesday, when it jumped
more than 1 percent. The metal was off off an eight-month low
of $801.90 ounce hit on Tuesday.
"I think the lower price's attracted buyers into the
market. Given the extreme volatility of the gold price in
recent days, I think picking the near term direction is very
difficult," said David Moore, analyst at Commonwealth Bank of
Australia.
"I think gold has been principally driven by investor
activity and the U.S. dollar movement has been an important
influence on gold," he said.
Gold, which struck an all time high at $1,030.80 in March,
has lost much of the gains to profit taking, oil's falls from
record and recently the dollar's rally against a basket of
currencies which reduced the metal's safe-haven appeal.
"Definitely there's a bit of bargain hunting, but I don't
think we are out of gold's decline yet. Resistance should be
around $836 and then $845. The downside, of course, will still
be around the $800s," said a dealer in Singapore.
Oil <CLc1> added 91 cents to $116.91 a barrel as declines
in fuel and crude inventories in top consumer the United States
helped offset concerns about global consumption. [].
In theory, expensive oil lifts gold's appeal as a hedge
against inflation.
The dollar index, which gauges its performance against six
major currencies, edged up 0.2 percent to 76.373 <.DXY> -- near
a six-month high reached this week. []
The dollar has surged as investors see major central banks
cutting interest rates to limit the damage from the global
economy's slowdown, while the Federal Reserve is expected to
keep interest rates on hold after having already slashed them.
New York gold futures <GCZ8> added $6.9 an ounce to $838.4.
Spot platinum <XPT=> rose to $1,513.00/1,533.00 an ounce
from $1,501.50/1,521.50 late in New York. Spot palladium <XPD=>
rose to $319.50/327.50 an ounce from $314.00/322.00 an ounce.
Silver <XAG=> edged up to $14.94/15.00 an ounce from
$14.82/14.88 late in New York.
The most active Tokyo gold contract for June 2009 delivery
<0#JAU:> on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange ended the morning
session 43 yen per gram higher at 2,934 yen.
Precious metals prices at 0245 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 831.35 5.75 +0.70 -0.16
Spot Silver 14.92 0.06 +0.40 1.02
Spot Platinum 1513.00 9.00 +0.60 -0.46
Spot Palladium 319.00 0.00 +0.00 -13.32
TOCOM Gold 2934.00 43.00 +1.49 -4.12
26614
TOCOM Platinum 5338.00 78.00 +1.48 -0.02
8691
TOCOM Silver 529.50 9.70 +1.87 -2.13
666
TOCOM Palladium 1153.00 32.00 +2.85 -14.66
524
Euro/Dollar 1.4888
Dollar/Yen 109.36
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 Michael Urquhart)
