Gold benefits

Gold benefits from economic uncertainty situation after european leaders last week opened the idea that Greece's sovereign debt could default and the country might not receive EU financial aid if it failed to adopt austerity measures.Meanwhile, benchmark bond yields of Italy, the bloc's third largest economy, shot to a level that is widely deemed unsustainable, reflecting investors' concerns that they may not get their money back. 

"The market is extremely worried. Changing leaders both in Greece and Italy doesn't change the fiscal situation and leaves us with a period of uncertainty," said Ole Hansen, senior manager at Saxo Bank. Holdings of the largest gold-backed exchange-traded-fund (ETF), New York's SPDR Gold Trust, gained nearly 1 percent from Monday to Tuesday, while those of the largest silver-backed ETF, New York's iShares Silver Trust, dipped 0.12 percent for the same period. In platinum group metals, platinum fell 2.1 percent to $1,623.24 an ounce and palladium dropped 3.4 percent to $644.97.