Gold rose on Thursday, helped by a resurgent euro and turmoil hitting financial markets on political chaos in Greece as European leaders contemplated the country's exit from the euro zone. Gold has been rangebound in the past week or so, with the threat of a potentially disastrous Greek default burnishing gold's safe-haven appeal while fears of a liquidity crunch in case of a default have kept gains in check. "Some people would have been looking on with horror, buying gold on basis of potential Armagedon because of Greece. That's always there," said Nick Moore, RBS's global commodity strategist. Safe haven interest in gold, although lower than previously, still existed, he said. Gold's rise off earlier losses was echoed in other financial markets. Early losses in stocks and the euro turned to gains on hopes that Greece might ditch a plan to hold a referendum which will test its resolve to stay in the currency bloc. "The feeling we get from the market is that people prefer not to take large positions at the moment because of the uncertainty, and it's similar in all the markets too," Standard Bank analyst Walter de Wet said. France and Germany, angered at Greece's shock move to call for a referendum on its latest bailout plan, told Prime Minister George Papandreou on Wednesday that Athens would not receive EU aid until it decides whether it wants to stay in the euro zone. Spot gold was up 0.8 percent at $1,752.29 at 1222 GMT, off an intraday high of $1,758.63, from $1,737.70 on Wednesday. U.S. gold was up 1.3 percent at $1,752.70. "The strong demand that we've seen, with gold at $1,650 up until last week, is not there any more," De Wet said. "I think in the way gold has been behaving over the past couple of weeks it seems that people prefer to buy euro/gold which makes sense because of all the problems there." Gold in euros was trading at around a one-month high of $1,268. The prospect of a hard Greek default and euro exit hung over a meeting of G20 leaders beginning in Cannes on Thursday. Eyes are also on the European Central Bank, which will meet on Thursday and is expected to hold interest rates steady. "In light of today's ECB and G20 meetings, uncertainty looks set to remain elevated. In this context, we think gold is best positioned as it is likely to attract further safe haven inflows," Credit Suisse said in a note. "Prices could test the $1,750 mark in the coming days." Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said spot gold could drop to $1,705 an ounce during the day. The euro steadying after earlier falls, but remained vulnerable to further losses against the dollar. BUYERS SCARCE Asian physical buying has slowed due to high prices and the euro zone uncertainty. Gold traders in India, the world's biggest consumer of bullion, slowed purchases after the peak festivals of Dhanteras and Diwali last week, though wedding season demand may pick up in coming weeks. Spot silver also recouped earlier losses, and was up 0.8 percent at $34.22. Holdings of the iShares Silver Trust, the world's largest silver-backed exchange-traded fund, edged down 4.07 tonnes from a day earlier to 9,776.14 tonnes by November 2. Platinum was $1,629.25 from $1,596.25 and palladium was $665.97 from $646.88. (Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper and Rujun Shen; Editing by Alison Birrane)

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