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LONDON, Oct 5 (Reuters) Gold drifted higher to trade above the previous day's 15-week low and platinum gained after falling to a six-month low on Thursday as a recovery in crude oil and bargain hunting supported the market.

But investors remained cautious about chasing prices higher as gold remained vulnerable to further declines and some analysts saw the metal falling to new lows before rebounding.

''The fundamentals are reasonably good. We are in a seasonally strong period of demand. Prices are low so demand is high because gold is price-elastic,'' said Stephen Briggs, economist at SG Corporate and Investment Banking.

''But the simple plain fact of the matter is, as demonstrated in the last few days, if investors do not buy in the paper market, the price falls because a bull market is largely speculative.'' The recent drop in gold was mainly because of weak oil and there was a risk that the metal might drop again, he added.

Gold rose as high as $574.25 an ounce and was quoted at $570.00/571.00 by 1501 GMT, compared with $566.00/567.00 in late New York on Wednesday, when it fell as low as $559.40, the lowest since mid-June.

''Gold hasn't recovered particularly strongly. The market sentiment is still bearish,'' said Matthew Turner, metals analyst at Virtual Metals.

Traders said oil would continue to set direction for gold.

Oil jumped more than a dollar to above $60 a barrel after an OPEC delegate said the producer group would cut output by one million barrels per day as soon as possible to prop up prices.

Gold is generally seen as a hedge against inflation. The metal is also influenced by the dollar and often moves in the opposite direction to the U.S. currency.

DOLLAR MAY LIMIT GAINS Gains in precious metals were seen capped by a firmer dollar against the euro.

The euro slipped after the European Central Bank president softened some expectations of another near-term rate hike which would narrow the interest-rate spread between Europe and the United States.

''Potentially, support in the $535-$542 area should hold firm technically, but with talk of hedge funds reallocating their investment portfolios from commodities into record breaking stock markets, gold could be subjected to moves lower,'' Standard Bank said in a daily report.

Physical buying picked up in several parts of the world. Gold demand in India, the world's top gold consumer, continued to gain momentum, supported by the festival season.

In related news, Germany's Bundesbank said it will hold on to vast bulk of its gold reserves in the third year of a central bank agreement limiting bullion sales.[ID:nL05793646] Barclays Capital said it believed the central banks sold the full 500 tonnes of gold in the second year, but other analysts have said sales fell short of the quota.[ID:nL05192226] In other precious metals, platinum fell to $1,072 an ounce, the lowest since mid-April, and was later quoted at $1,082/1,087 against New York's $1,075/1,080.

Silver was at $11.00/11.07, versus $10.78/10.85 an ounce, while palladium was up at $297/302 an ounce from $289/294 in the U.S. market.

In industry news, StreetTRACKS Gold Shares , the world's largest gold exchange-traded fund, would be cross-listed in Singapore next week in a move to capitalise on Asia's growing fondness for bullion. [ID:nSP26453] REUTERS KR BD2039