Gold steady,platinum edges lower after modest gain

TAIPEI, Nov 24 (Reuters) Gold held steady on Friday as the market looked to oil and the U.S. dollar for direction, while platinum softened a touch after it posted modest gains in the previous session following a tumble earlier this week.

-- Spot gold stood at $630.90/631.90 an ounce by 0028 GMT, little changed from $630.20/631.20 late in New York.

-- Japanese markets reopened for trade on Friday following a national vacation on Thursdays, although the United States is still on the Thanksgiving holiday.

-- Benchmark gold futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange dipped 11 yen per gram to 2,387 yen per gram.

Spot platinum was at $1,155 an ounce, down a touch from $1,163 in London, where it had gained as much as 1.8 percent, capping a volatile week in which it hit a new record peak of $1,395.

The metal had spiked amid talk of the launch of an exchange traded fund only to tumble 18 percent the next day.

-- The dollar had hit a 5-1/2-month low against the euro and a two-month low against the yen on Thursday in trade thinned by holidays in the United States and Japan.

-- By 0029 GMT, the dollar stood around $1.2948 against the euro , putting it well in range of $1.2979, above which would be it lowest point since May 2005.

-- Against the yen , the dollar was at 116.37, just off a nadir of 116.14 hit the previous day.

-- Oil prices steadied after crude stocks increased in top consumer the United States, weighing on already well-supplied markets.

-- U.S. crude edged down 4 cents a barrel to $59.20 by 0034 GMT.

-- Silver was at $13.08/13.15 an ounce from $13.10/13.17 late in London.

-- Palladium was flat at $322.00/327.00 an ounce.

Reuters SBA VP0640