Possible agreement in the Greek debt dispute puts gold under pressure

The toing and froing of the Greek debt crisis is also keeping the precious metal markets on tenterhooks.

Although no final agreement was reached, gold found itself under noticeable pressure. It is now hoped that a solution will be found once and for all on Thursday. 

There is talk of the existing aid programme being extended by 3 or 6 months. This would not resolve the underlying problem, however, so the debt question would be back on the agenda in just a few months' time.

An inflow of 3.5 tons into the gold ETFs doubtless prevented an even more pronounced price slide - this was the highest daily inflow since the beginning of April