Gold steadied in quiet trade on Thursday and looked at the dollar and oil for direction, but platinum gained after tumbling this week from record highs.

Spot gold hovered in a tight $3-an-ounce range and was quoted at $630.20/631.20 an ounce by 1530 GMT, little changed from $629.90/630.90 in New York late on Wednesday.

"Gold has been in a pretty narrow range and has been consolidating. I don't expect any dramatic moves in the last weeks of the year," Jeremy East, head of metals trading at Standard Chartered Bank in London, said.

"People may be taking some risk off the table and it looks like the long-term investors are staying with the market."

Dealers said the market was likely to remain quiet, with the United States shut for Thanksgiving. There were no U.S. data or policymaker speeches later in the day.

Investors would focus on external factors for market direction, they added.

"Gold is still struggling to overcome the $628-$630 chart area at the moment but given the dollar's recent movements, I would expect gold to continue higher once the market returns to full operations next week," said James Moore, precious metals analyst at TheBullionDesk.com.

The euro hit a 5-1/2-month high against the dollar, while oil eased after crude stocks piled up in top consumer the United States and weighed heavy on amply-supplied markets.

Gold often moves in the opposite direction of the dollar and is generally seen as a hedge against inflation.

"Gold has moved back up above $630 but light volumes due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. are likely to keep trading quiet through the rest of the week," Barclays Capital said.

"Should dollar weakness persist, we see some upside potential for gold as trade returns in full swing next week."

PLATINUM GAINS

In other precious metals, platinum gained as much as 1.8 percent before easing to $1,163/1,178, against $1,145/1,165 an ounce in the U.S. market.

The metal has been volatile this week, hitting a record high of $1,395 on Tuesday on talks of the launch of an exchange traded fund and tumbling 18 percent the next day.

The Shanghai Gold Exchange widened the maximum daily trading range for gold and platinum to 30 percent from 10 percent, which would allow prices to track more closely swings in international prices.

"Now those short positions have been covered and we are almost back to normality now. Medium term, I am quite friendly to the platinum market," East said.

"The outlook is good and supply is relatively inelastic. We know that demand is going to be increasing over the next few years," he added.

Silver was at $13.10/13.17 an ounce, higher from $13.04/13.11 in New York, while palladium was unchanged at $322/327 an ounce.