Gold firms on bargain hunting, but jewelers wait

By Lewa Pardomuan

LONDON (Reuters) - Gold bounced on Friday after a drop from a one-month high spurred buying from bargain hunters, but jewelers stayed on the sidelines, awaiting clues from the energy market.

Spot gold firmed to $927.15/928.05 an ounce from $917.60/918.80 an ounce late in New York on Thursday, when it jumped to its highest in more than a month at $935.30 before falling sharply on profit taking and as oil trimmed gains.

But gold has struggled to sustain the uptrend since spiking to a lifetime high of $1,030.80 an ounce on March 17, falling to a four-month low of $845 an ounce in early May as investors booked profits.

"I don't sense there's huge enthusiasm right now for gold," said Stephen Briggs, economist at SG Corporate and Investment Banking.

"So I suspect for the moment it's going to remain sort of start tracking inversely, if you like, the dollar," he added.

Oil rallied to over $133 a barrel on Friday, on a weaker dollar and on nagging concerns about stagnating output in Russia and other producers outside OPEC. <O/R>.

The euro slipped to $1.5752 from around $1.5765 but it was still up 0.2 percent from late Thursday.

In theory, expensive oil lifts gold's appeal as a hedge against inflation.