Gold futures closed a volatile session higher Tuesday, as the dollar surrendered early gains to trade lower against major currencies

After trading as low as $567.80 an ounce, gold for August delivery made a comeback and ended the day up $8.10 at $580.50 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

"The precious metals continue to languish after the beating they've taken over the last month," said Dale Doelling, chief market technician at Trends In Commodities. "There are many who claim that gold is a tremendous buy right now, but the light at the end of the tunnel is probably a freight train coming the other way."

Other precious metals also posted gains. Platinum added $30.70 to $1,168.50, palladium rose $8.90 to $304.00 an ounce and silver edged up 30 cents at $10.27 an ounce. Copper closed up 1.9 cents at $3.1715 a pound, having recovered from a morning drop on news of a strike at the largest copper mine in the world.

The weak dollar as well as uncertainty surrounding Iran's nuclear program and North Korea's plans to test launch a missile appeared to boost gold, but the recent instability on the market has made investors wary, analysts said.

"The gold markets are still awash with emotion and volatility, making it hard for any investor to focus and in danger of seizing on the minor or irrelevant to base his ongoing views on," said Julian Phillips, analyst at GoldForecaster.com.

Jon Nadler, investment products analyst at bullion dealers Kitco.com, said: "Gold appears to be playing it safe and not moving wildly in either direction. This is largely a reflection of the mood of investors, who are also tired of the recent volatility and may prefer to stay neutral at least until a clearer course is apparent."

In early trading Tuesday, copper posted losses after the union at Chilean copper mine Escondida said it would strike if BHP Billiton, which owns 57.5% of the mine, didn't agree to its wage demands during the August negotiations of a new contract. The union is seeking a wage increase of 10% above inflation and copper price bonuses. In 2003, Escondida workers won a 1.5% wage increase in their contract negotiations.

"A strike at Escondida can have very serious consequences," said John Clemmow, of Investec Securities in London. "There's a lot of posturing from the union, but it's unclear whether they'll strike."

Escondida, which is located in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, produces 7% of the world's copper, which makes it the largest copper mine in the world. In addition to Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton PLC, other companies that have a stake in Escondida are Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto Plc (30%), Mitsubishi-led Jeco Corporation (10%), and the International Finance Corporation, a World Bank subsidiary (2.5%).

Gold supplies were unchanged at 8.03 million troy ounces as of late Monday, according to Nymex data.

Silver inventories rose by 33,545 troy ounces to105 million troy ounces and copper supplies fell by 47 short tons to 7,537 short tons.