Gold pared gains after touching a one-week high on Tuesday as it tracked oil and the dollar, and lacked the demand to move up sharply on positive fundamentals, traders said.
Prices had been hovering in a range of $559-$581 per ounce for almost a week, way below last month's peak of $640.25 and a 26-year high of $730 in May.
"It looks really good from the fundamental side, but there just doesn't seem to be enough buying coming through to drive prices much higher," said Michael Widmer, metals analyst at Calyon Corporate and Investment Bank.
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"That's worrisome, because if you have got a generally bullish environment and prices are not doing anything, that's not very good."
Spot gold rose as high as $579.60 an ounce before falling to $574.50/575.50 by 1137 GMT, against $576.00/577.10 in New York late on Monday.
Dealers said gold would normally have jumped on news such as the nuclear test by North Korea and slowing U.S. economic growth, but the metal was stuck in a range.
Oil prices fell after rising above $60 a barrel as OPEC worked out the details of an expected one million barrels per day production cut, with gains checked by a lack of Saudi supply curbs to Asian refiners.
The metal also came under pressure because of a stronger dollar, which hit a three-month high against the euro.
"After a period of consolidation and when the market nervousness about North Korea settles down, gold should continue with its weak trend, potentially looking towards initial support at $570 before heading lower into the $540s," Standard Bank said in a daily report.
World powers condemned North Korea after it said it had conducted its first underground nuclear test, and Washington sought harsh U.N. sanctions that could further isolate the communist state.
"It seems clear that North Korean testing has had only a very limited sustainable impact on the gold price ... But we do not see North Korea as a major driver of the gold price in the near term barring any military escalation," John Reade, analyst at UBS Investment Bank, said.
In other precious metals, silver fell to $11.18/11.25 an ounce from $11.28/11.35 late in New York.
Platinum fell to $1,080/1,085 from $1,082/1,087 an ounce, while palladium was at $301.50/306.50 an ounce, versus $300/304.
In industry news, Italy's jewellery export volumes are likely to fall 5-10 percent this year due to a sharp fall in second quarter exports and volatile gold prices, an industry expert said.