London - Gold held a two-day decline and silver fell on speculation European officials will break a months-long impasse in Greece’s bailout talks.
Bullion for immediate delivery slipped 0.2 percent to $1,184.16 an ounce at 10.52am in London, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. Platinum rebounded from a six-year low and palladium ended an eight-day losing streak.
Gold is little changed this year as investors assess when the US will increase rates and Greek policy makers struggle to reach a deal with the country’s creditors. Euro-area leaders gave Greece 48 hours to make the final push needed to satisfy creditors and end a five-month standoff over aid.
“Gold got no safe-haven demand from the development of the Greek crisis, but it does seem to suffering on the hopes of a deal,” Adrian Ash, head of research at BullionVault, said by phone from London. “By and large, we’re still range-bound.”
Gold futures for August delivery were little changed at $1,183.80 on the Comex in New York. Holdings in exchange-traded products backed by the metal rose 3.5 metric tons, the most since April 9, according to data compiled by Bloomberg as of Monday.
European leaders agreed that Greece’s government was finally getting serious about striking a deal after it submitted a set of reform measures that began to converge with the terms demanded by creditors. They agreed to step up the pace of negotiations to secure a breakthrough on Wednesday that leaders can sign off at the end of the week.
Silver for immediate delivery slid 1.3 percent to $16.0076 an ounce. Platinum rose 1.1 percent to $1,073.75 an ounce.
Palladium added 0.8 percent to $702.13 an ounce. The metal entered a bear market last week and is trading near the lowest since 2013 amid ample global supplies.
Bloomberg