Gold rose on Thursday, recovering in part from the previous session's slide, as better performance in equity markets and underlying uncertainties surrounding the US fiscal crisis increased bullion's investment appeal. Spot gold was up 0.5 percent at $1,727.51 an ounce by 2:51 pm EST (2051 GMT), after it traded as low as $1,705.64 an ounce on Wednesday.

US COMEX futures for December delivery settled up $10.70 at $1,727.20 an ounce, with volume about 30 percent above its 250-day average. The implications of the $600 billion tax hikes and spending cuts known as the "fiscal cliff" are unclear for gold, analysts said. Silver rose 1.6 percent to $34.27 an ounce. Among platinum group metals, platinum was up 0.4 percent to $1,609.49, while palladium climbed to its highest since mid September at $689 an ounce. It was last traded up 1.7 percent at $684.22 an ounce.

Copyright Reuters, 2012