Gold for August delivery added $2.40, or 0.2%, to $1,160.40 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract hit an intraday high of $1,165 an ounce, according to FactSet Research.
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Tuesday's lows caused technical damage and it may be a while before gold adds gains in any meaningful way, said Matt Zeman, a trader with LaSalle Futures Group in Chicago.
Bargain hunters came out to snap gold at prices last seen in April, but markets were still quiet. Open interest, or the number of active contracts, for gold futures fell to around 95,000 on Wednesday from the roughly 250,000 just a week ago.
"We're going to need some type of catalyst for the market bulls to regain the upper hand," Zeman added.
Gold lost 2.1% on Tuesday to settle at $1,158 an ounce, its lowest price since April 26.
Meanwhile, an unexpected decline in June durable-goods orders hit silver, the only metal to post losses on Wednesday.
The U.S. Commerce Department reported Wednesday that durable-goods orders declined 1% in June. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a 1% rise.
It was the largest drop in total orders since August 2009. Read more about the durable-goods report here.
Silver for September delivery declined 19 cents, or 1.1%, to $17.44 an ounce. Prices for silver, used in a host of industry applications, are sensitive to manufacturing data, and the drop in June stoked fears of diminished demand for the metal.
Other metals gained, with copper leading the way.
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Copper for September delivery added 4 cents, or 1.2%, to $3.26 a pound. Platinum for October delivery rose $5, or 0.3%, $1,541.70 an ounce.
Shares of SPDR Gold Trust (GLD 113.78, +0.27, +0.24%) , the largest exchange-traded fund backed by gold, declined slightly to $113.43.
Investors should not read too much into the day's rise in gold prices, said analysts at Barclays Capital in a note.
"Prices are likely to struggle to gain traction, particularly in light of physical demand providing a very soft floor for prices," they said, citing a lack of buyers in the Indian market during seasonally slow summer months.
Buyers of the physical metal will return when prices are low enough, said analyst Suki Cooper. Stronger physical interest was seen earlier in the year when prices were trading around $1,100 per ounce.
The dollar index (DXY 81.90, -0.28, -0.35%) , which compares the U.S. unit to a basket of six other currencies, declined 0.1% to 82.12.
