SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold edged up on Friday, recovering from a 6-percent drop in New York, after oil rose more than $3 and a rebound in equities eased worries of a global recession, at least for now. A falling dollar against the euro also restored gold's safe-haven appeal after a recent sell-off in equities drove speculators to sell bullion to cover losses. Firmer gold plucked other precious metals from their lows. Gold was trading at $806.60 an ounce, up $1.50 from New York's notional close on Thursday, when it dropped to its weakest level in a month at $783.80 as funds dumped commodities amid uncertainties in the financial markets. Bargain hunting by private investors in Japan and buybacks by producers lifted gold prices, but jewelers were on the sidelines and the charts also indicated bullion could still hit the lows again, said Yukuji Sonoda, an analyst at Daiichi Commodities. "In Japan, jewelry demand is tremendously poor. So many scraps have been returned to fabricators. We reached $750 last month, so it may be possible for us to touch that level again," he said. Gold's volatility has scared off jewelers and some investors. It rallied to a two-month high of $931 last Friday on a weak dollar before tumbling all the way to $823.50 on the same day as investors sought cash to cover margin calls. Gold was well below a record of $1,030.80 hit in March. In other markets, Japan's Nikkei average .N225 pared gains to 1.5 percent after an early rebound on Friday, which helped oil rise more than $3 after hitting a 15-month low. The dollar slipped against the euro and a basket of currencies as safety demand from investors and global companies for the world's most liquid currency waned after a late surge in Wall Street shares. "I am bullish on gold because, in the end, as the global economic recession deepens, governments will find the only way out of this mess is to print more money," said Jeffrey Nichols, managing director of American Precious Metals Advisors. "In other words, to inflate. But a deeper downturn means that policy makers will need even more aggressive monetary easing and fiscal spending to breathe life back into the sick economy -- and governments will be even deeper in the hole." Government steps to shore up the banking system and unfreeze credit markets showed some signs of progress on Thursday, but grim news from major economies reinforced fears of recession and hammered global markets. Platinum was trading at $900.50 ounce, up $16.00 an ounce from New York's notional close on a technical rebound. It had plummeted to $831.50, it weakest since December 2004, on fears of a global recession. New York gold futures rose $5.7 ounce to $810.2. Precious metals prices at 10:33 p.m. EDT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover Spot Gold 806.00 1.50 +0.19 -3.21 Spot Silver 9.68 0.05 +0.52 -34.46 Spot Platinum 900.50 16.00 +1.81 -40.76 Spot Palladium 172.50 1.50 +0.88 -53.13 TOCOM Gold 2633.00 -57.00 -2.12 -13.95 23195 TOCOM Platinum 2961.00 11.00 +0.37 -44.54 7388 TOCOM Silver 312.90 -3.60 -1.14 -42.16 454 TOCOM Palladium 597.00 -18.00 -2.93 -55.81 246 Euro/Dollar 1.3447 Dollar/Yen 101.64 TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce. (Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Source