Gold edged up on Tuesday, outperforming equities for the second day in a row as worried investors bought the precious metal as a safe haven after European Union officials predicted Greece will need more debt restructuring. Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,577.86 an ounce by 3:04 pm EDT (1904 GMT), moving in a relatively quiet range of less than $20.
US COMEX August gold futures for August delivery settled down $1.20 at $1,576.20, with trading volume about 15 percent above its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed. Among other metals, silver edged down 0.4 percent to $26.89 an ounce, while spot platinum was down 0.7 percent at $1,382.24 an ounce and spot palladium dropped 1 percent to $560.75 an ounce. Palladium hit a 2012 low at $551.68 as economic worries hurt the metal mostly consumed as catalytic converters by the auto industry.