SINGAPORE, Jan 4 Gold steadied on Thursday, holding above $ 627 an ounce after falling ne

SINGAPORE, Jan 4 (Reuters) Gold steadied on Thursday, holding above $627 an ounce after falling nearly 2 percent in New York because of a firming U.S. dollar.

-- Spot gold was at $627.50/628.50 an ounce by 0047 GMT, barely changed from $627.70/628.70 late in New York on Wednesday.

-- Investec Australia pegged support at $615 an ounce and resistance at $642 an ounce.

-- Tokyo gold futures reopened after a holiday. Benchmark gold futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, currently December 2007, fell 12 yen per gram to 2,433 yen.

-- The euro was steady at $1.3164 . The dollar rallied in the U.S. market after the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its manufacturing index climbed to 51.4 -- above the 50 threshold that separates expansion and contraction.

-- Silver slipped to $12.57/12.64 an ounce from $12.58/12.65 an ounce.

-- Platinum fell to $1,120/1,125 an ounce from $1,126/1,132.

-- Palladium fell to $333/338 an ounce from $334/339.

REUTERS SRS PM0645