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SINGAPORE, July 13 (Reuters) Gold bounced around on Thursday, flirting with $650 before falling from there on a lack of physical buying and sales of scrap in parts of Asia.

Spot gold fell to $646.10/647.60 an ounce from $647.80/649.30 an ounce late in New York. It had opened trade around $650 and touched a low of $644 an ounce.

Dealers in Singapore, a centre for bullion trading in Southest Asia, reported persistent sales of scrap gold as holders took advantage bullion's recent rise.

Gold rose to a six-week high of $655.30 on Wednesday on firm oil prices, tension in the Middle East and security fears after deadly blasts in India's financial hub of Mumbai.

''I think we are still stuck in a range of $625 to $655 or somewhere around there. There's some selling in Japan because the yen is going up, but I don't think that's huge,'' said a dealer in Hong Kong.

The benchmark June 2007 gold contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange rose to 2,434 yen per gram, its highest since May 24, before dipping to 2,427 yen, still 42 yen higher than Wednesday's close.

Some dealers said investors were keen to take profits at higher levels since the gold price had rebounded from a three-month low of $543 in mid-June. Gold had hit a 26-year high of $730 in mid-May.

''If you sort of take it from the highs in mid-May, we are about half way back there,'' said commodities analyst Tobin Gorey of Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. ''There's a need to see support at $630 to continue this rally,'' he said.

Dealers said Iran's nuclear stand-off with the West, recent North Korean missile tests launches, and the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon would elevate gold's safe-haven appeal.

Israeli aircraft attacked two runways at Beirut international airport on Thursday, widening an assault against Lebanon a day after Hizbollah seized two Israeli soldiers and killed eight.

Dealers said they would also watch the currency market after a rally in the dollar on Wednesday trimmed gold's gains.

On Thursday, the dollar was easier against the yen ahead of an expected rise in Japanese interest rates on Friday, which would be the first rise in six years.

The dollar eased to 115.35 yen from around 115.50 yen in late U.S. trade on Wednesday, when it rose more than 1 percent. The euro edged up to $1.2715 Platinum fell to $1,24821,247 an ounce from $1,252/1,257 late in New York. Sister metal palladium dipped to $324/329 an ounce from $325/330.

Silver inched down to $11.49/11.59 an ounce from $11.52/11.62 late in New York.

Precious Metals Prices by 0502 GMT* Metal Last Net change Pct Move Gold 646.50 -3.50 -0.54 Platinum 1242.00 -10.00 -0.80 Palladium 324.00 -1.00 -0.31 Silver 11.50 -0.03 -0.26 Change so far in 2006 Metal Latest bid End prev year Pct Move Gold 646.50 517.20 +25.00 Platinum 1242.00 968.00 +28.31 Palladium 324.00 254.00 +27.56 Silver 11.50 8.81 +30.53 * The closing prices used to calculate the net change may differ from New York's last quoted prices.

REUTERS CS KP1222