Gold slips after rally

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold dipped on Friday, pausing for breath after rallying to its highest level in almost three months the previous day, but sentiment was upbeat on the back of a weaker dollar and firm oil.

-- Gold eased to $943.15/944.15 an ounce from $944.10/945.30 late in New York on Thursday when it jumped as high as $947.40, its strongest since April 17, which was also driven by chart-based buying after a key resistance was broken.

-- Gold futures for August delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange added $2.4 an ounce to $944.4.

-- The dollar fell against the euro on Thursday, dragged down by persistent worries over the health of the U.S. financial sector, as shares and bonds of the country's two mortgage finance giants tumbled on capitalization fears.

-- Oil prices jumped 4 percent to above $141 a barrel on Thursday amid threats to production in Nigeria and Brazil and an additional missile test by Iran that escalated tensions with the West.

-- Spot platinum rose to $2,019.00/2,039.00 an ounce $1,994.50/2,014.50 late in New York.

-- Spot palladium rose to $447.00/455.00 an ounce from $445.00/453.00 an ounce late in New York.

-- Silver edged up down to $18.25/18.32 an ounce from $18.28/18.33 late in New York.

-- The most active Tokyo platinum contract for June 2009 delivery on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange rose 178 yen per gram to 6,092 yen.

Precious metals prices at 12:24 a.m. GMT (8:24 p.m. EDT)

Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover

Spot Gold 943.40 -3.00 -0.32 13.29

Spot Silver 18.26 0.00 +0.00 23.63

Spot Platinum 2022.00 25.50 +1.28 33.03

Spot Palladium 447.00 1.50 +0.34 21.47

TOCOM Gold 3273.00 45.00 +1.39 6.96 22110