* Oil up 5 pct, lifts oil and grains * Nikkei briefly surges over 5 pct * Bargain hunting pluck copper futures from multi-year lows * Investors eye U.S. auto bailout, OPEC meeting By Lewa Pardomuan SINGAPORE, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Gold and grains gained on Monday after crude oil bounced from a four-year low, but as fears of a severe global recession lingered, investors were turning their focus to next week's OPEC meeting and a U.S. auto sector bailout. Bargain hunting and strong equities plucked copper futures in Shanghai and London from multi-year lows despite concerns about the impact of recession on industrial metals demand, while Tokyo's most active rubber contract held near a six-year trough. "It's possible that OPEC production cuts may in time actually help support the oil price, but the possibility that we are going lower in the near term could not be ruled out," said David Moore. commodities strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Oil gained more than $2 to around $43 a barrel by 0543 GMT on a jump in equities markets and news that Saudi Arabia would maintain -- though not deepen -- oil supply cuts to Asian oil refiners in January. Oil had posted its the biggest weekly fall since January 1991 after a U.S. report showed the heaviest job losses in 34 years, helping push the Reuters-Jefferies CRB index, a global benchmark tracking futures in 19 commodities markets, to its biggest ever weekly decline of 14 percent. ------------------------------------------------------------- For a chart showing how the CRB constituents performed in the week ending Dec. 5, click: https://customers.reuters.com/d/graphics/CMD_CRBPF081208.gif ------------------------------------------------------------- A rebound in oil and a 5-percent gain in Japan's Nikkei average lifted gold prices to $764.95 an ounce, up $10.35 from New York's notional close on Friday, when it hit a two-week low of $740.40. Soaring oil and fears of rising inflation helped propel gold to a record of $1,030.80 in March but trading has since been volatile. Gold hit a 13-month low of $680.80 in October, when a sell-off in equities forced investors to cash in to cover losses. "The gold price will be moving in a small range of $750 to $800. As long as the oil price is not so strong and stock prices also fluctuate, gold will be moving in the same range," said Yukuji Sonoda, precious metals analyst at Daiichi Commodities. Just five months after oil hit a high of more than $147, analysts are now slashing their price and demand forecasts. Merrill Lynch said oil could drop to $25 a barrel if the global recession extends to China, while the International Energy Agency cut its forecast for average annual oil demand growth to 2013 to 1.2 percent from 1.6 percent. The steep retracement of oil prices has prompted many OPEC members to call for increasingly strong action when the cartel meets on Dec. 17 in Algeria. "People are now buying back short positions after the rebound in U.S. equities last Friday. We are also looking at the relief plan for the auto makers, that will be quite important," said Tetsu Emori, a commodities fund manager at Japan's Astmax Co.Ltd. Dealers said the rescue plan for U.S. automakers could offer some relief to investors shocked by the loss of half a million jobs in November, which heightened fears that an economic downturn was nowhere near its end. Gains in equities also spurred a recovery in base metals. Shanghai copper futures rebounded after falling their 6 percent limit to a 4 1/2-year low as investors covered short positions and London metals bounced back from Friday's sharp loss. In agriculture products, Chicago Board of Trade corn for December delivery rose 2.04 percent to $2.99-½ per bushel on firm oil, moving off the lowest level in more than two years on Friday after the release of poor U.S. job data. The benchmark rubber contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange for May delivery added 1.4 yen per kg to 110 yen to track a rebound in oil. But the contract was within sight of Friday's low of 99.8 yen, the lowest since August 2002, as worries about poor car sales lingered. (Additional reporting by Osamu Tsukimori in TOKYO, Jonathan Leff in SINGAPORE, Bruce Hextall in SYDNEY, Miho Yoshikawa in TOKYO and Alfred Cang in SHANGHAI; Editing by Michael Urquhart)

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