Gold Barely Moves After Greek Austerity Deal

That's because in the middle of last night ... Greek lawmakers agreed to an austerity plan that the Eurozone was demanding as a condition for financially rescuing Greece. But by the middle of the day the positive feelings that the Greek situation was producing wore off and the yellow metal started paring its gains.One reason it reversed direction and started declining today is because the price of gold couldn't climb back above Friday's high of $1,730. It basically hit a ceiling. And once it became clear that gold wouldn't get above that level ... technical traders started selling and the yellow metal ended the day flat.The price of gold has basically stayed more or less the same since Jan. 26.Silver and palladium did better today ... but the big gainer was platinum ... which climbed to $1,665 early in the session. That level's just a few dollars shy of its three-month high. Since January ... platinum has cut its discount to gold from $230 to about $70. That's a reminder of the fact that until last year platinum has been more expensive than gold ... and things may be headed back in that direction.Shares of gold and silver miners were mixed ... but gold-backed exchange-traded funds did well. The "SPIDER" Gold Trust and the iShares Gold Trust ... the two largest such funds in the world ... both closed up.Gold for April delivery fell 40 cents to close at $1,724.90 ... while spot gold slipped $1.83 to $1,724.  Silver for March delivery rose 12 cents to settle at $33.72 ... while spot silver was off two cents to $33.74.