In commodities, spot gold was closing near.....>

GOLD: In commodities, spot gold was closing near $1,267.40 per ounce, after

trading in a $1,257.02 to $1,269.82 range, Tuesday's high of $1,274.16 was the

highest since June 14 when gold peaked at $1,280.77.

- On June 6, the precious metal posted a high of $1,296.15, but then stalled,

creating a double-top with the $1,295.56 high seen April 17. Subsequently, gold

moved lower as U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar recovered, bottoming July 10

near $1,204.90. A break above the June 14 highs will target the early June

peaks.

- In Gold Demand Trends Q2 2017, released earlier, the World Gold Council noted

that Q2 demand of 953.4 tonnes was 10% lower than in 2016, while first half 2017

demand slowed 14% to 2,003.8 tones.

- "Y-o-y comparisons are affected by record ETF inflows in 2016: demand from

this sector slowed dramatically after last year's H1 surge," the WGC said.