Gold crept down to hover below $960 on Wednesday after a bout of bargain hunting, triggered by the previous session's over 2 percent decline, ran out of steam. Traders said sentiment had turned slightly softer after the market's failure to breach an 11-month high above $1,000 an ounce hit last week. Spot gold was trading at $957.55 an ounce around 0633 GMT, down 0.5 percent from New York's notional close on Tuesday.