LONDON, Nov 18: 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.

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.

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 auto catalysts.

More than 60 per cent of platinum is used in auto catalysts 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.

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.

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 per cent 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.

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.—Reuters