Watch Me TRADE's video: Making Money During Lunch Time 600 profit Watch How

Gold futures veered between small gains and losses Wednesday, as a big pop in price and volumes just before the U.S. equities open proved to be short-lived, and as investors continued to look ahead to a summit of European leaders. The yellow metal for August delivery GCQ2 +0.23% declined 50 cents at $1,574.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices traded as high as $1,584.60 an ounce, according to FactSet, in a jump around 8:20 a.m. Eastern. Click to Play Coca-Cola announces plans to invest $5 billion in India by 2020 to boost consumption and increase its presence in the emerging market. Gold struggled for direction in a day commodities were mixed, oil traded higher and U.S. stocks modestly gained, according to Matt Zeman, head trader with Kingsview Finance in Chicago. "There's no clear-cut direction, everybody is waiting for the EU summit," he said. "You probably are seeing some positioning ahead of that." The precious metal declined in Tuesday's session as investors absorbed more negative European developments ahead of the two-day meeting, which begins Thursday. Germany was unenthusiastic about a plan to tighten fiscal integration across the euro zone and a European banking union ahead of the summit. Read more on the EU's fiscal road map. The strain on the continent has created some upside for gold in recent weeks, as global uncertainty fueled demand for the metal as a safe store of value. Nearly as often, however, gold has succumbed to the worries about the global slowdown and the euro zone's debt crisis, and has declined alongside other assets considered riskier. Elsewhere in the metals suite, July platinum PLN2 -1.21% added to losses, down $16.10, or 1.1%, at $1,410.70 an ounce, while September palladium also furthered its slide, retreating $14.80, or 2.5%, at $579.60 an ounce. July silver SIN2 -0.27% fell 18 cents, or 0.7%, at $26.86 an ounce, and July copper HGN2 +1.03% gained 4 cents, or 1.1%, to $3.35 per pound