Gold firms, TOCOM inches down on profit taking

TOKYO, June 5 (Reuters) Gold firmed on Tuesday following a drop in the dollar and a jump in oil prices, while Tokyo futures retreated on profit taking, snapping a four-day winning streak.

Analysts said the downside on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange seemed limited by a favourable technical chart, in which spot gold has found a solid support at $650 an ounce.

Firmer oil prices were also supportive after a Middle East Gulf cyclone stoked concerns about oil supply from Oman and sent crude oil above $70 a barrel in London.

''It's time to take a breather,'' said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, associate director at Nihon Unicom Inc.'s research department.

''But investors look willing to buy on dips as oil prices seem to be back to an uptrend,'' he said.

Spot gold rose to $671.30/672.00 an ounce as of 0212 GMT, up from $670.50/672.00 late in New York on Monday, when it hit its highest in three weeks at $673.90.

The TOCOM benchmark gold futures contract for April 2008 delivery fell 1 yen a gram to 2,655 yen by midday.

On Monday it rose as high as 2,658 yen, the highest in nearly a month.

The dollar was little changed at 121.70 yen , after slipping to 121.55 yen in the previous session.

The euro was slightly firmer at $1.3497 , pulling away from a two-month low of $1.3392 hit last week.

Spot silver was at $13.69/13.73 an ounce, barely changed from late in New York on Monday, when it rallied to its highest since late April at $13.79.

Cash platinum was at $1,292/1,297 an ounce, compared with $1,296/1,300 late in New York.

Palladium was hardly changed at $369/374 an ounce.

Precious metals prices at 0223 GMT TOCOM Gold 2655.00 -1.00 -0.04 19608 TOCOM Platinum 5000.00 -5.00 -0.10 17291 TOCOM Silver 536.80 -0.10 -0.02 1122 TOCOM Palladium 1473.00 -0.10 -0.34 513 Spot Gold 671.00 Spot Platinum 1292.00 Spot Silver 13.69 Spot Palladium 369.00 Change so far in 2007 Metal Latest bid End prev year Pct Move TOCOM Gold 2655.00 2445.00 +8.59 TOCOM Platinum 5000.00 4254.00 +17.54 TOCOM Silver 536.80 493.30 +8.82 TOCOM Palladium 1473.00 1255.00 +17.37 Spot Gold 671.00 636.10 +5.49 Spot Platinum 1292.00 1132.00 +14.13 Spot Silver 13.69 12.85 +6.54 Spot Palladium 369.00 332.00 +11.14 Euro/Dollar $1.3497 Dollar/Yen 121.67 TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except for silver which is in yen per 10 grams, spot prices in $ per ounce.

REUTERS KR BD1135