Gold is trading almost flat today despite concerns over Greece, weak equity markets and physical demand due to the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays in China. Yesterday the precious metal was sought after as safe-haven asset on renewed concerns over the developments in Greece after slumping on Friday on U.S. jobs data. Over the weekend Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsirpas ruled out any extension of the international bailout and reaffirmed that he will stick to his plan to roll back austerity measures. On late Friday Standard and Poor's downgraded Greece from B- to B, only one notch higher than "default" and kept the outlook for Greece negative. S&P warned that time is running out for Greece to reach an agreement. Greek Defence Minister said that if Greece will get no help from the European Union it can look somewhere else. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned Greece that the Eurozone is not going to accept Tsirpas plans.

The precious metal is currently quoted at USD1,238.10, +0,02% a troy ounce. On Thursday the 22nd of January gold reached a five-month high at USD1,307.40.