Gold futures edged up ahead of the court decision in Germany and amid growing expectations for fresh monetary measures from the U.S.
Gold for December delivery rose $2.90 to $1737.70 an ounce in electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The German court ruling on the euro zone's bailout fund is set to take place later in the global trading day Wednesday.
The advance came ahead of this week's Federal Reserve policy meeting. Recently, expectations have increased that the Fed will announce more bond buying to support the U.S. economy Thursday at the end of its two-day meeting.
European stock markets struggled for direction in early trade on Wednesday, as investors got jittery ahead of the German constitutional court ruling on the fate of the euro zone's permanent rescue fund.
The main focus for investor attention was the German constitutional court ruling on the legality of the European Stability Mechanism later in the morning. The court is widely expected to approve the rescue fund, but the key question is whether the Germans will attach any conditions to a potential approval.
Market participants also looked toward the U.S., where the Federal Reserve on Thursday concludes a two-day policy meeting, with hopes high that it'll announce another round of quantitative easing.