TOKYO, Feb 23 Gold fell a touch on Friday after it sprinted to a nine-month high earlier

TOKYO, Feb 23 (Reuters) Gold fell a touch on Friday after it sprinted to a nine-month high earlier this week, but dips were bought as the market looked set to move higher on geopolitical tensions and other bullish factors.

Traders said the prospect of a weaker dollar and mounting anxieties over Iran's nuclear programme were factors underpinning the current market.

''This means that even if gold prices were to fall, there is psychological sentiment in the market to test $700,'' Koji Suzuki, a market analyst at Kazaka Commodity Co. Ltd., said.

As of 0310 GMT, cash gold was trading at $675.10/$675.80 an ounce, down from $676.60/$677.30 in late New York on Thursday but above earlier lows of around $672.70.

It rose to a nine-month high of $682.10 on Wednesday.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Thursday that Iran had failed to meet a Feb. 21 deadline to suspend uranium enrichment, prompting the major powers to call a meeting next week to start writing a new Iran sanctions resolution.

International tensions often help boost the price of gold, which is viewed as a safe-haven investment in troubled times.

The latest news on Iran also lent support to crude oil, which continued to trade near $61 a barrel.

Crude oil was also supported by latest U.S. data, which showed a big fall in distillate and gasoline stocks last week.

Frontmonth U.S. crude for April delivery was trading around $60.90, not far from Thursday's high of $61.25, the highest level since Jan. 2.

The dollar hovered near a four-year high against the yen on Friday and the euro struck an all-time peak as the Japanese currency's slide extended after the Bank of Japan emphasised this week it would be slow in raising interest rates.

The U.S. currency, however, has struggled against other major currencies as market players look to the Federal Reserve to start trimming rates from 5.25 percent later in the year.

Lower rates typically pressure the dollar which usually buoys gold, as the precious metal is often bought as an alternative to the U.S. currency.

The dollar was trading at 121.58/121.60 yen on Friday after climbing as high as 121.64 yen in New York trade.

Platinum was at $1,216/$1,221 an ounce compared with $1,226/$1,231.

Silver was at $14.20/$14.25, little changed from $14.19/$14.24 an ounce.

Palladium was at $343/$348 an ounce, down from $347/$352.

REUTERS KR DS1118