Gold bounced around in a narrow band on Wednesday as it struggled to sustain early gains despite support from the physical sector ahead of festive seasons in Asia's main consumers.

Spot gold started trading at $591.60 an ounce, hit a high of $591.80 and briefly dropped to a low of $589.50. The metal was last quoted at $590.80/591.80 in New York, where it gained nearly $5 an ounce.

Gold rose to its highest level in nearly two weeks to $593.75 in Asia on Tuesday due to higher crude oil prices.

In other precious metals, platinum hit a high of $1,130 an ounce before retreating, while palladium gained on purchases from jewelry makers ahead of the Mid-Autumn festival in China in October, said dealers.

The festive season in main buyer India was also expected to support gold, which fell to a near three-month low of $571.20 on September 15. But dealers were divided over whether the recent rebound would be sustained and help bullion reclaim $600 an ounce.

"I personally think $600 is a possibility. I thought if we are going to touch it, we might have done it yesterday," said Darren Heathcote of Investec Australia in Sydney, who saw gold trading in a $585 to $600 range.

"I think gold is still looking weak. A break of either side at this present juncture is possible, depending on where we see oil prices going in the days and weeks ahead," he said.

U.S. crude oil futures held above $61 a barrel ahead of the release of U.S. inventory data, and dealers began to factor in forecasts for a rise in distillate and gasoline stocks.

"Certainly, Indian buyers are adding a little bit of support to the downside and probably stopping it from collapsing at the moment," said Heathcote. "But I am not convinced we are on the upward trend again at the moment."

Gold tumbled to under $600 an ounce for the first time in more than two months on September 11 as falling energy prices sparked heavy selling from investors.

Some dealers said strong demand from jewelry makers as well as the industrial sector would eventually help gold regain $600 an ounce.

"Actual demand for gold, platinum and especially palladium is very strong. But at this moment, the market is mostly influenced by the U.S. interest rate policy and oil price," said Yukuji Sonoda, precious metals analyst at Daiichi Commodities in Tokyo.

"There's an active demand for gold, platinum and palladium. By the end of this week, the price will be more than $600," he said.

In the currency market, the dollar trimmed gains made on strong U.S. consumer confidence data which helped to soften expectations the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates.

The dollar fell slightly to 116.95 yen . The euro was at $1.2695 , after falling to around $1.2660 on Tuesday.

Dealers await the Fed's favored inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditure index, due on Friday, to gauge the outlook for rates.

Benchmark gold futures <0#JAU:> on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange rose 11 yen per gram to 2,238 yen ($19.11), reflecting gains in New York's COMEX market.

Silver edged up to $11.37/11.42 an ounce, from $11.35/11.42 an ounce late in New York.

Platinum eased to $1,126/1,131 an ounce, from $1,128/1,133 an ounce. Palladium rose to $314/319 an ounce, from $312/318 late in New York.