Modest price declines for gold, but bulls remain in firm control

(Kitco News) - Gold prices are modestly down in early morning U.S. trading Tuesday, on some routine profit taking from the futures traders. Still, the sellers are constrained by the bullish technical chart postures in place for both gold and silver. However, the buyers of the safe-haven metals are still tentative at present amid little risk aversion in the global market place. August gold futures were last down $4.00 at $1,893.60 and July Comex silver was last down $0.288 at $27.725 an ounce.

Global stock markets were mixed in quiet overnight trading. U.S. stock indexes are pointed toward narrowly mixed openings when the New York day session begins. Risk aversion in the marketplace is scant at present, amid no major geopolitical developments in play.

In overnight news, the Euro zone economy shrank by 0.3% in the first quarter of this year versus the fourth quarter of last year.