Gold rose for a fourth straight session on Wednesday on safe-haven bids due to uncertainties in Europe ahead of a key election in Greece, but the metal's repeated failures to break above major chart resistance could trigger technical selling. Bullion raced toward $1,625 an ounce earlier in the session after weak US retail sales and wholesale prices data raised the prospect of additional monetary easing from the Federal Reserve.
Concerns about Spanish and Italian debt and jitters over Sunday's Greek election also kept gold prices supported. Spot gold was up 0.5 percent at $1,617.70 an ounce by 2:39 pm EDT (1839 GMT), having earlier hit a high of $1,624.36. US COMEX gold futures for August delivery settled up $5.60 at $1,619.40 an ounce, with trading volume about 40 percent below its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed. Among other precious metals, silver slipped 0.1 percent to $28.91 an ounce. Spot platinum gained 1 percent to $1,461.08 an ounce, while palladium eased 0.6 percent to $616.72 an ounce.