Gold creeps up with oil but tone cautious

By Lewa Pardomuan

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold crept up on Tuesday, with crude oil hovering near a record high, but investors were cautious after the metal failed to hold above $950 an ounce.

Platinum dropped more than 1 percent to below $2,000 as profit taking persisted since a spike to a one-month high last week, dragging down the price of sister metal palladium. Silver edged up to track firmer gold.

Gold rose to $915.50/916.50 an ounce from $913.80/914.60 late in New York on Monday, aided by purchases at lower levels by jewellery makers.

"Investors have been cautious about gold's short-term outlook," said Ronald Leung, director of Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.

"I think gold is still in the same wide range of $850 to $950. For the time being, $900 should be the good support. We've seen a little bit of physical buying at these levels."

Gold rallied to a three-week high of $952.60 on April 17 before profit taking kicked in and dragged down prices to as low as $904.35 the following day. It has lost more than 10 percent in value since hitting a lifetime high of $1,030.80 on March 17.

Oil held near record high above $117 per barrel, driven by supply threats after rebel attacks on pipelines in Nigeria. Firm oil lifts gold's appeal as an inflation hedge.

"Physical people have started buying at these levels. We are looking at demand from Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam but it's not great. I think people possibly wait for a drop below $900," said a dealer in Singapore.