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SINGAPORE, Apr 13 (Reuters) Gold shied from the $600-an-ounce level on Thursday, lacking momentum to go up as profit taking persisted, but sales of scraps began to subside in Asia ahead of the Easter holiday weekend.

Spot gold fell to $594.70/595.50 an ounce, from $597.50/598.30 late in New York on Wednesday and off a 25-year high of $604 an ounce hit on Tuesday.

Weaker crude oil prices also took some shine off the metal, which is used as hedge against inflation.

N M Rothschild pegged support at $570 an ounce and resistance at $620 an ounce -- a level last seen in December 1980.

Gold has reached multi-year highs as investors diversified their portfolios on worries about rising energy costs, tensions in the Middle East over Iran's nuclear aims and uncertainties over the dollar's outlook because of U.S. trade and budget deficits.

''The long-term bull trend remains unchanged. It's just consolidating at the lower end,'' said Ronald Leung, director of Lee Cheong Gold Dealer in Hong Kong.

''It's a matter of time before we break $600 again,'' said Leung, who expected gold to trade in a range of $592 to $600.

Gold's rise has also sparked liquidation from investors keen to take profit as well as sales of scraps, putting pressure on premiums for gold bars in the bullion trading centres of Singapore and Hong Kong ''Scraps mainly came from Thailand and Indonesia but sales have slowed down because of the holidays,'' said a dealer in Singapore.

''But if the price goes up again, then you may see more scrap coming in, and I think gold could test the above-$600 level. The Thais bought a lot of gold even before the price went up so much. They are lucky now,'' he said.

Markets in Thailand are shut on Thursday and Friday for the Songkran New Year water festival. Indonesia, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong will be closed for Good Friday.

Investors in Thailand , one of Southeast Asia's main consumers, have been active buyers because of the poor performance of the country's stock markets, said dealers.

Investment demand rose to 27 tonnes in 2005 from 11.9 tonnes in 2004, surpassing China, where demand stood at 11.7 tonnes last year, up from 9.8 tonnes the previous year, they said.

At its peak of $604 an ounce, gold was up more than 16 percent this year, more than 41 percent in the past 12 months, and double its value in four years. The metal has also been rallying due to rising oil prices.

Precious metals consultancy GFMS said gold had tremendous scope to attract more investment that could push prices past a 1980 peak of $850 in the next couple of years due to economic and geopolitical uncertainty. In Japan, benchmark gold futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, currently February 2007, fell 7 yen per gram to 2,287 yen ($19.30), tracking weaker oil prices and was off an 18-year high of 2,332 yen hit on Tuesday.

In other precious metals, silver inched down to $12.68/12.72 from $12.82/12.85.

Platinum fell to $1,074/1,079 an ounce from $1,086/1,090 late in New York. Sister metal palladium eased to $338/343 an ounce from $344/348.

Precious Metals Prices by 0504 GMT* Gold 594.50 -3.50 -0.59 Platinum 1072.00 -14.00 -1.29 Palladium 338.00 -6.00 -1.74 Silver 12.68 -0.06 -0.47 Change so far in 2006 Metal Latest bid End prev year Pct Move Gold 594.50 517.20 +14.95 Platinum 1072.00 968.00 +10.74 Palladium 338.00 254.00 +33.07 Silver 12.68 8.81 +43.93 * The closing prices used to calculate the net change may differ from New York's last quoted prices.

REUTERS PV RAI1119