LONDON—Spot gold was slightly lower in Europe as uncertainty over the outlook for the euro-zone continues to weigh on investor sentiment ahead of an eagerly awaited summit in the region at the weekend.
Wednesdau morning, the spot price of gold was $1,651.40 a troy ounce, down 0.2% on the day.
"The price of gold has not really profited from the growing uncertainty," instead moving lower with assets seen as relatively risky and trading inversely to the dollar, seen as a refuge in times of uncertainty, Commerzbank said in a note.
The bank's analysts argued, though, that there "would certainly be grounds for a rise in price; it is becoming increasingly clear that a fast and comprehensive solution to the euro zone debt crisis will not be found at the EU summit this weekend."
They forecast a price of $1,800 per ounce by the year's end.
However, independent markets commentator Dennis Gartman pointed to the yellow metal's rather sluggish recovery from its late-September lows as a sign that prices may continue to struggle. Since toppling 20% from an all-time high at $1,920.94 on Sept. 6 to a two-and-a-half month low at $1,533.23 on Sept. 26, the metal has only risen around 8%.
"Given the severity of the break in mid-September, if the gold market was still technically healthy it should have bounced sharply back, regaining that which it had lost rather swiftly," said Mr. Gartman.
"Taking twice or three times as long to regain only a third or so of what had been lost seemed at least awkward and at worst bearish," he added.
In other metals, spot silver was down 1.0% at $31.702 per ounce, spot platinum was flat at $1,527.20 and spot palladium fell 0.3% to $616.75 per ounce.
Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@dowjones.com and Francesca Freeman at francesca.freeman@dowjones.com
