Gold firmed in Europe, today, as a strong recovery in equity markets cut selling of the precious metal to cover losses elsewhere, and as physical buyers took advantage of lower prices to stock up. Spot gold rose 0.7 percent, at 1,651 dollars an ounce, extending yesterday's one percent gains. Concerns over the outlook for the euro zone, as the bloc wrestles with its stubborn debt crisis, were a key factor pushing gold to a record above 1,920 dollars an ounce, last month.