* Gold steady after seesaw trade, firmer oil helps * Platinum up on bargain hunting ahead of demand report * Firm dollar may weigh on gold (Updates prices) By Lewa Pardomuan SINGAPORE, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Gold steadied on Tuesday as oil regained some footing, while a firmer yen against the U.S. dollar spurred buying in platinum ahead of the release of a supply and demand report by refiner Johnson Matthey (JMAT.L: Quote, Profile, Research). Speculators in Japan pushed up platinum to a one-week high of $860 an ounce on Monday on expectations Johnson Matthey would release another market-friendly report despite poor car sales, which threatened to slash demand for autocatalysts. Platinum spiked to a record of $2,290 an ounce in March after a power shortage in main producer South Africa disrupted mining but the price has since fallen sharply to track declines in gold, and recently due to turmoil in the auto industry. Gold was trading at $738.00 an ounce, up $2.10 from New York's notional close on Monday, when it traded in a volatile $18 range. Bullion has lost nearly 30 percent in value since hitting a record of $1,030.80 in March. "From the gold charts, the trading ranges seemed to be narrowing over the past couple of weeks. So I am expecting a much clearer direction to appear over the near-term," said Adrian Koh, analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore. "I think the dollar's still going to be the driver here." Gold, which has slipped since hitting a two-month high of $931 an ounce in early October, could find resistance around last week's highs around $750, said Koh. Oil inched up above $55 a barrel on Tuesday, having settled at its lowest in nearly 22 months. [O/R] The dollar was hardly changed at 96.46 yen , while the euro eased to $1.2642 . The yen was underpinned by risk aversion as Tokyo shares slipped on deepening concerns about a global recession. [USD/] Platinum was trading at $812.00 an ounce, up $4.50, with dealers reporting bargain buying by speculators in Japan. Johnson Matthey said in May the platinum market could close 2008 in a significant deficit due to output shortfalls. "We don't know what the content of the Johnson Matthey report is going to be, but we've seen good demand from retail investors in Japan," said a dealer at a trading house in Tokyo. "What I know is you will either see buying or selling in platinum before the report. This time we are seeing some buying. So perhaps, people in Japan expect Johnson Matthey to say the market is still in a deficit," he said. U.S. Senate Democrats took the first step toward bailing out the nation's crippled auto industry on Monday by proposing a $25 billion loan program, a plan that faces stiff political headwinds with millions of jobs potentially riding on the outcome. [ID:nN17506199] With the year's congressional calendar down to a few days, lawmakers and the Bush administration sparred over the right way to extend help to General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Chrysler LLC. "I think the auto sector will definitely be a major factor here and talk is now on the large automakers such as General Motors, Chrysler, etc, and how they are going to get help from the governments to ride out the financial crisis," said Koh of Phillip Futures. "Perhaps the JM outlook due today may provide a bit of insight on how the platinum markets may be doing over the next few months." New York gold futures GCZ8 fell $4.5 an ounce to $737.5. Precious metals prices at 0252 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover Spot Gold 738.00 2.10 +0.29 -11.37 Spot Silver 9.33 0.06 +0.65 -36.83 Spot Platinum 812.00 4.50 +0.56 -46.58 Spot Palladium 211.50 -3.00 -1.40 -42.53 TOCOM Gold 2288.00 -32.00 -1.38 -25.23 18125 TOCOM Platinum 2540.00 -88.00 -3.35 -52.43 7641 TOCOM Silver 290.00 -11.80 -3.91 -46.40 192 TOCOM Palladium 680.00 -22.00 -3.13 -49.67 166 Euro/Dollar 1.2623 Dollar/Yen 96.71 TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce. (Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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