PRECIOUS-Gold steady near $955/oz on oil, capped at $960

* Gold pares gains after brief push above $960

* SPDR Gold holdings XAUEXT-NYS-TT steady

By Miho Yoshikawa

TOKYO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Gold held steady near $955 an ounce
on Monday, underpinned by firmness in oil prices, after it failed
to top a three-week high of $961 marked late last week.

Trading has largely been confined to a range of $930 to $960
during the past three months, with gold pressured by a resurgent
dollar but underpinned by inflation worries and uncertainty about
the economy.

Gold XAU= rose as high as $960.35 per ounce, up 0.6 percent
on the day, before drifting down to $955.25 by 0551 GMT, compared
with New York's notional close of $954.45.

"$960 is the resistance level we have been seeing since the
latter half of August, and gold remains technically vulnerable
around that level," said Shuji Sugata, a manager at Tokyo's
Mitsubishi Corporation Futures & Securities.

"And we also have crude oil fairly solid as it continues to
trade around $70," he said.

Firmness in oil prices can add to inflation fears and gold is
often bought as a hedge against inflation.

U.S. gold futures for December delivery GCZ9 were at
$956.90 an ounce, down 0.2 percent.

The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), said holdings stood at 1,061.83 tonnes as
of Aug. 28, unchanged since Aug. 25. [GOL/SPDR]

Noncommercial net long U.S. gold futures positions rose 3.1
percent to 182,982 lots in the week to Aug. 25 from 177,530 lots,
a weekly report by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
showed. [ID:nN28604357]

The yen hit a seven-week peak against the dollar JPY= on
Monday as short-term players chased it higher following a
thumping win for the opposition Democratic Party in Japan's
election, breaking chart supports for the greenback. [USD/]

Japanese voters swept the opposition to a historic victory in
an election on Sunday, ousting the ruling conservative party and
handing the untested Democrats the job of breathing life into a
struggling economy. [ID:nPOLJP]

U.S. crude oil CLc1 reversed earlier gains after a sell-off
in Chinese equity markets to trade at $72.39 per barrel, but was
still above a one-week trough of $69.83 marked last week. [O/R]

Platinum XPT= has been supported by a strike at South
Africa's Impala Platinum (IMPJ.J), the world's No. 2 producer of
the metal.

Union officials said on Saturday there is no scheduled
meeting to resume negotiations between workers and the company.
[ID:nLT448822]

Platinum inched down to $1,242.50 an ounce from $1,244.00.

The metal, used for jewellery and in auto catalysts, was also
under some downward pressure on news that suggested weak demand
for the auto industry.

Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T), the world's largest automaker,
said last week it would halt a production line in Japan as it
looks to cut excess capacity to return to profitability.
[ID:nBNG459680]

PRICES

Precious metals prices at 0551 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 955.25 0.80 +0.08 8.53
Spot Silver 14.65 -0.09 -0.61 29.42
Spot Platinum 1242.50 -1.50 -0.12 33.32
Spot Palladium 287.00 0.00 +0.00 55.56
TOCOM Gold 2863.00 -8.00 -0.28 11.27 40510
TOCOM Platinum 3720.00 -22.00 -0.59 40.27 9492
TOCOM Silver 438.10 3.10 +0.71 37.21 379
TOCOM Palladium 864.00 -5.00 -0.58 57.09 495
Euro/Dollar 1.4284
Dollar/Yen 92.86
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Additional reporting by Risa Maeda)