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SINGAPORE, July 3 (Reuters) Gold rose to its highest price in nearly four weeks on Monday, forced up by dollar weakness and as Japanese investors bought, tracking strong gains in New York.

Dealers also noted purchases from jewellery makers, which helped gold hit a high of $619.25 an ounce before easing to $617.75/618.50 an ounce, still higher than $612.60/613.60 last quoted in New York on Friday.

The benchmark June 2007 gold contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange rose by the daily 60-yen limit to 2,313 yen per gram as investors shifted back their funds into the metal in the new quarter.

But activity was thin. New York markets will be closed on Monday and Tuesday for the U.S. Independence Day holiday on July 4.

Spot gold gained gained more than 3 percent in the U.S.

market as the dollar fell when tame U.S. inflation data backed up expectations the Federal Reserve may have arrived at the end of its two-year campaign of tightening monetary policy.

''The feeling is the Fed is a little bit not certain as to the future direction, as to what action it should be taking,'' said Darren Heathcote, head of trading at N M Rothschild in Sydney.

Gold could breach initial resistance around $620 an ounce and then head up to $626 if it was to sustain the current run, said Heathcote.

Many analysts say there is more room for gains for gold, used in jewellery and for investment. The metal hit a 26-year high in mid-May at $730 an ounce before profit-taking erased much of the gains.

Investors had been worried the Fed would increase rates once again in August after increasing the benchmark Fed funds rate on Thursday for the 17th straight time to a five-year high of 5.25 percent.

Rising interest rates tend to boost the dollar and put pressure on gold. Dealers said investors and hedge funds were keen to buy gold due to its bullish technical trends.

''A brighter technical trend was giving solid support to the market as some investors were keen to buy gold from the start of the third quarter,'' said Shuji Sugata, assistant manager at Mitsubishi Corp. Futures and Securities.

The upward momentum for spot gold in particular increased after breaking through the closely watched resistance of $600 on Friday, he said.

''The prospect of another U.S. interest rate soon is receding and that is pushing down the dollar and prompting funds to shift back into gold,'' he said.

The yen climbed to a three-week high against the dollar after a key survey of Japanese corporate sentiment bolstered market expectations that the Bank of Japan may raise interest rates from zero as soon as next week.

The yen climbed to 114.10 its highest level since mid-June.

The euro was steady at $1.2785 Dealers awaited U.S. economic data this week for clues about whether the Fed has in fact reached the end of its rope.

The Institute for Supply Management will issue its June manufacturing index at 1400 GMT, which is expected to come in at 55, compared with 54.4 in May.

Other precious metals tracked gold's gains.

Platinum rose to a four-week high of $1,242 before retreating to $1,237/1,243 an ounce, up from $1,224/1,234 in New York.

Sister metal palladium rose to its highest in two weeks at $320/326 an ounce from $314/320.

Silver hit a three-week high of $11.20 an ounce. The metal was last quoted at $10.96/11.06 in New York.

Precious Metals Prices by 0409 GMT* Metal Last Net change Pct Move Gold 617.75 4.55 +0.74 Platinum 1237.00 13.00 +1.06 Palladium 320.00 7.50 +2.40 Silver 11.05 0.09 +0.82 Change so far in 2006 Metal Latest bid End prev year Pct Move Gold 617.75 517.20 +19.44 Platinum 1237.00 968.00 +27.79 Palladium 320.00 254.00 +25.98 Silver 11.05 8.81 +25.43 * The closing prices used to calculate the net change may differ from New York's last quoted prices.

REUTERS CS DS1142