Gold slides slightly

Gold fell slightly as financial ministers in Europe continued to hold off on providing Greece with the next installment of its international loan. The next tranche or loan disbursement of $40 billion is on hold, while finance ministers review progress Greece has made gaining control of its budget. Until then, investor uncertainty about the strength of the euro is causing hesitation on the gold market. Gold gave up $3.90 or 0.23 percent to settle at $1,726.20 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Silver gave up 20 cents to $32.69 per ounce, off 0.5 percent. The euro rose to $1.2734 from Tuesday's $1.2704. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 80.18 from 79.39 yen.