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By Bloomberg

Gold held above a three-week low before Greece holds an emergency meeting with creditors.

While German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble doused expectations of a positive outcome at Wednesday’s meeting in Brussels, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said there is “no way back” for his government. An impasse risks leaving Greece without funding by the end of the month, when its current bailout expires.

Gold climbed 4.2 percent this year amid the Greek crisis and more monetary stimulus in Europe and Asia, even as the dollar strengthened on prospects for higher U.S. interest rates. Investors’ holdings in gold-backed funds are near the highest since October.

“There is a lot of speculation as to what is happening in Greece and whether Greece will actually leave the euro,” James Moore, an analyst at FastMarkets Ltd., said by phone. “That is just creating general uncertainty in the market and gold’s safe- haven properties are being reflected in that.”

Bullion for April delivery added 0.1 percent to $1,233.80 an ounce at 8:35 a.m. on the Comex in New York. The precious metal touched $1,228.20 on Feb. 6, the lowest since Jan. 15. Gold for immediate delivery was little changed at $1,234.15 an ounce in London, Bloomberg generic pricing showed.

Futures trading volume was 59 percent below the 100-day average for this time of day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Prices near $1,230 may encourage more physical demand, particularly in Asia, Afshin Nabavi, a trader at MKS (Switzerland) SA, said by phone. Chinese markets will be closed from next week for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Bullion held in exchange-traded products declined for the first time in a week, falling 1.6 metric tons to 1,676.6 tons as of Tuesday, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Assets fell from the highest level since October.

Silver for March delivery was 0.1 percent higher at $16.89 an ounce in New York. Platinum for April delivery fell 0.4 percent to $1,202.60 an ounce, while palladium for March delivery gained 1.5 percent to $777.45 an ounce.