By Humeyra Pamuk LONDON (Reuters) - Bargain-hunters lifted platinum on Tuesday as the market awaited a key report from the world's top platinum refiner Johnson Matthey, while gold was steady. Spot platinum was at $811.50/831.50 an ounce by 1110 GMT ahead of the report due at 1300 GMT, up from $808 an ounce in New York late on Monday. Platinum prices jumped to a one-week high of $860 an ounce on Monday as speculators bet Johnson Matthey would release a market-friendly report despite poor car sales which threatened to slash demand for autocatalysts. More than 60 percent of platinum is used in autocatalysts to clean exhaust fumes. "It is finding a floor around $800 an ounce," analyst Walter de Wet at Standard Bank in Johannesburg said. "Producers are cutting back production and with the levels we are at right now a lot of producers in South Africa are not making money," he added. Lonmin, the world's third-biggest platinum producer, said it would close some high-cost mines and cut costs to survive a market downturn after posting a 19 percent rise in annual profit. Platinum spiked to a record $2,290 an ounce in March mainly due to a power shortage in main producer South Africa that disrupted mining. But the price has since fallen sharply, tracking declines in gold, hit by the banking crisis, the global economic slowdown and deteriorating car sales. "The market has probably priced in all the weakness in demand," de Wet said. Johnson Matthey said in May the platinum market could close 2008 in a significant deficit due to output shortfalls. "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," Adrian Koh, analyst Phillip Futures, said. INFLATION STORY DEAD Gold was steady, awaiting key macro data from the United States but remained under pressure as a strong dollar and falling oil prices weighed on the metal. Gold was trading at $735.80 an ounce, slightly down from $735.90 an ounce in New York late on Monday. Bullion has lost nearly 30 percent in value since hitting a record of $1,030.80 in March. "The bullish story on gold based on fears of inflation is dead," Jesper Dannesboe, senior commodity strategist at Societe Generale, said. "Because now it is disinflation and even deflation. With the oil prices going down the way they are it is very difficult to hold onto long gold positions unless the dollar was to collapse, which is not the case." The euro fell against the dollar and the yen, as a stream of evidence that the global economy is continuing to suffer kept demand high for unwinding risky positions in favour of low-yielding currencies. "There is a lot of uncertainty in the market," De Wet at Standard Bank said, adding investors were on the sidelines, waiting for some direction. "To some extent gold is tracking crude oil lower, but there is little interest in buying or selling." Oil fell towards $54 a barrel, setting a new near 22-month low as the gloomy outlook for the world economy helped extinguish a brief rally. U.S. light crude oil for December delivery was 55 cents lower at $54.40 a barrel. Investors will be looking at the U.S. producer prices for October due at 1330 GMT to find out more clues about the health of the world's biggest economy. New York gold futures fell $6.7 an ounce to $735.3. Silver was at $9.32/9.40 from $9.27 and palladium at $214/219 from $214.50.

Source