By Arpan Mukherjee Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WELLINGTON (Dow Jones)--Gold was moving in a tight range in Asian trading Tuesday with physical buying supporting prices around the current levels despite a broad recovery in regional stock markets and increased risk appetite that should have typically put pressure on gold. At 0522 GMT, spot gold was at $1,793.70 a troy ounce, up $5.20 from its previous close. The yellow metal kept trading in the $1,785.30/oz-$1,800.69/oz range in thin trading as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines remained closed for a religious holiday. Volumes were low also because increased price volatility and choppy trade in the past few sessions have pushed some investors to the sidelines ahead of the Sept. 7 ruling on the legality of the European Union's bailout Greece. Germany's constitutional court is expected to rule next week on whether the European Union's EUR440 billion rescue fund for Greece undermines German fiscal sovereignty or breaches any treaty. "Europe remains a big issue and I think it could be confounded by the concerns as we go into September 7," said Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking Services. Inflationary pressures remain the other big concern now, he said. "But physical demand doesn't seem to be bad in Asia," said a Hong Kong-based trader said, adding that investors have been buying every time there is a pullback in prices. Gold touched a high of $1,912.29/oz on August 23 but corrected sharply within two days and touched a low of $1,703.10/oz leaving some investors jittery of another sell-off. Investment demand for the yellow metal has held up, however, particularly in India, as the country moves into the festival and wedding season. India is the biggest market for gold jewelry. Insignia Consultants director Chintan Karnani said he expects Indian gold jewelry demand to remain high, unless prices breach INR29,500 ($642) per 10 gram level by October. Silver also remained range-bound with physical buying limiting the downside. "After CME ruined the markets for everybody, investors are still waiting," Barratt said. Higher trading margins introduced by the CME Group is reducing people's appetite to trade, he said. The U.S. exchange operator raised margins in May, triggering a sharp correction in price of the metal after it touched a record $49.83/oz in late April. At 0522 GMT, spot silver was at $40.53/oz, down 35 cents while platinum was at $1,822/oz, up $2 and palladium was at $752/oz, unchanged from its previous close. Traders said supply disruptions in platinum because of unresolved wage negotiations in South Africa could be bullish for the metal and help it remain above gold prices. Based on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released Friday, Standard Bank said the palladium market seemed to be adopting a wait-and-see approach as the net speculative length for palladium is relatively weak, although speculative shorts are well below last year's average. -By Arpan Mukherjee, Dow Jones Newswires; 64-4-471-5990; arpan.mukherjee@dowjones.com

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