December gold settled up $5 at $410.00 an ounce, trading from $405.00 to $410.40. Estimated volume was a moderate 52,000 contract.
Russia's top investigator said terrorism, human error or mechanical mishap could explain why the two aircraft crashed minutes apart, killing all 89 people on board the planes, after taking off from the same airport.
A spokesman for the main rebel group in Chechnya, where Russia has been battling separatists for almost a decade, denied responsibility.
"You look at the plane crashes in Russia and the Republican convention, the US dollar there's lots of stories out there that are certainly not negative, from the gold price perspective," said Bernard Hunter, a director at precious metals dealer ScotiaMocatta in Toronto.
Profit taking pushed the December contract to $404.60 on Tuesday, down $12 from Friday's four-month high at $416.80.
But that was after gold rose $22 in a week on concerns about the inflationary effect of runaway oil prices and about security before the Republican Party gathers next week in New York City to denominate President George W. Bush for reallocation in November.
"As we get toward the end of the week, I think some folks might be a bit nervous coming into convention week," said James Pagoda, precious metals vice president at Mitsubishi International Corp.
"Being a fellow New Yorker, I echo those concerns." But the dollar has faded as a factor this week, trading quietly above $1.21 per euro after a surge on Tuesday. "Let me tell you what I saw," said Graham Leighton, a bullion vice president at Society Generale, "very good fund buying and dealer short-covering.
Most people believe there's a fairly decent base in the euro between the $1.205 and $1.21 level and therefore the similar kind of support level in gold." Dealers said gold briefly lost ground when the dollar wavered after the Commerce Department reported that July durable goods orders rose 1.7 percent, more than the 1.0-percent expected by economists.
When transportation was factored out orders were up only 0.1 percent. Spot gold rose to $407.25/8.05 from Tuesday's last price at $402.80/3.55. The afternoon fix in London was $406.00.
September silver ended up 3.60 cents at $6.613 an ounce, trading from $6.55 to $6.67. Spot silver fetched $6.59/62, up from $6.54/57 late yesterday and today's fix at $6.57. Nymex October platinum rose $11.70 to $856.90 an ounce.
Spot platinum closed at $847.00/852.00. September palladium slipped 90 cents to $215.50 an ounce.
Spot palladium was at $210.50/216.50.