NEW YORK/LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Gold finished higher on Tuesday, recovering some of its losses from last week when it plunged to a two-month low, as the precious metal closely tracked oil, which had plunged to a 1-1/2 year low before paring losses.

Analysts said that gold's trading might remain choppy and back-and-forth because of thin volume in the beginning of the year.

Spot gold hit a high of $615.70 before it retreated somewhat to $613.70/604.70 by 3:14 p.m. EST (2014 GMT), against $608.70/609.70 late Monday.

Benchmark gold for February delivery on the COMEX metals trading division of the New York Mercantile Exchange settled up $5.60 at $615.00 an ounce, trading in a range between $607.00 and $617.40 an ounce.

Stephen Platt, analyst at Archer Financials, said that the precious metals markets were taking cues from the crude oil.

Oil prices had tumbled as much as $2 a barrel earlier in the session on mild winter weather in the United States and waning interest from big investors in commodities indices.

Oil is down roughly 8 percent since the start of the year. On Tuesday, U.S. crude fell as low as $53.88 during electronic trading, before it cut losses and ended down only 45 cents at $55.64 a barrel.

Gold is often seen as a hedge against oil-led inflation.

"People are a little bit cautious here given how oversold the markets are," said Platt. "On the other hand, they are very cautious in terms of pursuing the markets on the upside."

Platt added that trading was thin right now.

"If you get any kind of gyration in the energies, the markets are probably going to respond to it," said Platt.

John Reade, precious metals analyst at UBS Investment bank, said gold was expected to trade in a range in the near term, with support coming from physical buying. But the upside 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 <.DJAIG>, the world's second-largest commodity index fund.

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

Copper prices have fallen about 12 percent since the start of 2007 on worries about demand growth and rising stocks. Other base metals have also declined.

Paul McLeod, vice president, precious metals at Commerzbank, called Tuesday's session "another day of consolidation after the heavy sell-off on Friday."

U.S. gold futures plunged more than 3 percent on Friday, their biggest one-day percentage drop in three months.

"We are seeing some physical support on the dips," said McLeod. "We are building a base here from which we can attempt to recover the losses from the first week of the year."

In other news, Dubai's gold industry sales rose 40 percent in December and 5 percent in 2006, boosted by growing tourism and the Dubai shopping festival, the Dubai Gold and Jewelery Group said. [ID:nL0963590]

Russian miner Polymetal, the world's fifth-largest silver producer, will list up to 30 percent of its shares in Moscow and London in the first quarter of 2007, the company said. [ID:nL09918883]

Platinum rose to $1,123/1,128 an ounce from $1,115/1,120, while palladium was down at $326.00/330.00 an ounce, versus $326/329. Silver fell to $12.44/12.51 an ounce from $12.26/12.33. (Additional reporting by Lewa Pardomuan in Singapore)