LONDON, Jan 9: Gold built on gains in New York as the dollar slipped against the euro on Tuesday, but the metal lacked impetus to rise strongly and might run into sell-off around $615 an ounce, dealers said.

Spot gold rose to $611.80/612.80 an ounce by 1126 GMT from $608.70/609.70 late in New York on Monday.

Bargain hunters and physical players will continue to underpin gold in the coming sessions, said James Moore, precious metals analyst at The Bullion Desk.com.

Gold was supported by the dollar, which lost ground against the euro, moving away from recent six-week highs, due to a sense that gains sparked by last week's surprisingly strong non-farm payrolls data may have been overdone.

The metal has rebounded since falling to its lowest level in more than two months around $601 on Friday.

John Reade, precious metals analyst at UBS Investment bank, said gold was expected to trade in a range in the near term, with some support coming from physical buying. But the upside move was seen capped by volatility in other metals.

He said base metals might come under further pressure this week because of portfolio re-balancing by Dow Jones AIG the world's second largest commodity index fund, and that might keep gold on the back foot.

The fund, with some $30 billion in assets, is expected to sell some of the futures contracts of the better-performing commodities in 2006 to re-balance the annual number of contracts in its portfolio.

Copper prices have fallen about 12 per cent since the start of 2007. Other base metals have also declined.

The physical (gold) buyers have returned in force, but the professional market remains nervous and there may be further volatility in the near term, SG Corporate and Investment Banking said in a report.

High and volatile prices curbed Turkish investors' and producers' appetite for gold in 2006 but dealers and producers are upbeat about 2007.

Turkey's 2006 gold imports stood at 192.7 tons in 2006, down from last year's record of 270 tons, marking the first fall since 2001.

In other metals, platinum rose to $1,120/1,125 an ounce from $1,115/1,120, while palladium was up at $331/336 an ounce, versus $326/329.

Silver rose to $12.34/12.41 an ounce from $12.26/12.33.

Russian miner Polymetal, the world's fifth-largest silver producer, will list up to 30 per cent of its shares in Moscow and London in the first quarter of 2007, the company said on Tuesday.—Reuters