(RTTNews) - The price of gold was moving lower Tuesday morning as concerns over the European sovereign-debt crisis increased after Moody's Investors Service downgraded credit ratings of Italy, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Malta. It also warned that it may cut triple-A ratings of France, the United Kingdom, and Austria
Gold for April delivery, the most actively traded contract, were down $3.00 to $1,721.90 an ounce. Yesterday, gold ended flat on concerns over the widespread violence in Greece even as lawmakers there approved an austerity bill to secure a second bailout package.
Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, were unchanged at 1,278.65 tons.
This morning, the U.S. dollar was lingering near a 2-month low versus the euro and trading flat against sterling. The buck was moving lower against the Swiss franc, while advancing to a three-week high versus the yen.
In economic news from the euro zone, U.K. annual inflation slowed in January as expected by economists to the lowest since November 2010, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. Consumer price annual inflation slowed to 3.6 percent from 4.2 percent a month ago. Nevertheless, the inflation figure remains well above the 2 percent target.
Meanwhile, German economic expectations improved sharply in February, data from the Mannheim based Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) showed. The economic sentiment index rose by 27 points to 5.4 in February compared to expectations for an improvement to -11.8.
Elsewhere, the prices of silver and platinum were ticking lower in morning deals.
From the U.S., the Commerce Department is scheduled to release its retail sales report for January at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists estimate a 0.7 percent increase in retail sales and a 0.6 percent improvement in retail sales excluding autos.
