Prices for spot gold remained steady on Wednesday sticking to their 5% gain during the past seven sessions and moving towards its record high on escalating fears over a euro zone debt.

"Investors are really fearful that the debt crisis will spread to nations beyond Greece," said Ong Yi Ling, an analyst at Phillip Futures.

"We are in the climate of uncertainty -- there is the debt crisis in Europe and the United States have not come to an agreement on raising the debt ceiling while the August 2 deadline is approaching -- these will keep gold prices supported."

Spot gold was flat at $1,565.81 an ounce by 0617 GMT, after hitting $1,572.96 in the previous session, barely $3 off the all-time high of $1,575.79 set on May 2.

U.S. gold GCcv1 edged up 0.3 percent to $1,566.60.

Suggesting a return of investment appetite, holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, jumped 1.7 percent to 1,225.41 tonnes by July 12, their highest in more than two months.

Precious metals prices 0617 GMT

Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume

Spot Gold 1565.81 0.56 +0.04 10.31
Spot Silver 36.21 0.16 +0.44 17.34
Spot Platinum 1739.00 9.85 +0.57 -1.61
Spot Palladium 765.72 3.67 +0.48 -4.23
TOCOM Gold 4010.00 20.00 +0.50 7.54 71100
TOCOM Platinum 4497.00 35.00 +0.78 -4.24 12141
TOCOM Silver 92.50 1.10 +1.20 14.20 549
TOCOM Palladium 1975.00 4.00 +0.20 -5.82 221
COMEX GOLD AUG1 1566.60 4.30 +0.28 10.22 16471
COMEX SILVER SEP1 36.25 0.62 +1.73 17.16 3037
Euro/dollar 1.4003
Dollar/Yen 79.50

TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months