Gold slid to a one-week low on Wednesday, down for a fourth consecutive session as the dollar strengthened and global stock markets continued to rally on expectations of a Greek debt deal. "Investors reacted to enhanced hopes of a Greek debt deal by liquidating or shorting gold," HSBC analyst James Steel said in a research note.
"Gold has absorbed a lot of 'bad' news recently and we wonder just how much lower the market is likely to go. Physical EM (demand in emerging markets) still appears sluggish, notably but not exclusively in India, an important gold-consuming country. This opens the way for lower prices but we think declines may be modest." Spot gold fell 0.2 percent to $1,176 an ounce by 0715 GMT, after losing 0.6 percent on Tuesday. It hit a session low of $1,174.7, the weakest since June 17.