By Claudia Assis and Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures veered between small gains and losses Wednesday, enjoying a big pop in price and volumes just before the U.S. equities open as investors continued to look ahead to a summit of European leaders.
Gold for August delivery GCQ2 -0.16% gained 10 cents to $1,575 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices traded as high as $1,584.60 an ounce, according to Factset, in a jump around 8:20 a.m. Eastern.
The boost is likely to be shortlived, said Matt Zeman, head trader with Kingsview Finance in Chicago.
Gold struggled for direction in a day commodities were mixed, oil traded higher, and U.S. stocks modestly gained.
“There‘s no clear-cut direction, everybody is waiting for the EU summit,“ said Zeman. “You probably are seeing some positioning ahead of that.“
The precious metal declined in Tuesday’s session as investors absorbed more negative European developments ahead of the two-day meeting, which begins on Thursday.
Germany was unenthusiastic about a plan to tighten fiscal integration across the euro zone and European banking union ahead of the summit. Read more on the EU's fiscal roadmap.
The strain in Europe has created some upside for gold in recent weeks, as global uncertainty fueled demand for the metal as a safe store of value.
Elsewhere in the metals suite, July platinum PLN2 -1.07% shed $15.20, or 1.1%, to $1,411.80 an ounce, while September palladium retreated $11.35, or 1.9%, to $582.35 an ounce.
July silver SIN2 -0.83% declined 15 cents, or 0.6%, at $26.89 an ounce, and July copper HGN2 +0.82% gained 2 cents, or 0.6%, at $3.33 per pound.
Claudia Assis is a San Francisco-based reporter for MarketWatch.
Virginia Harrison is a MarketWatch reporter based in Sydney.
