Gold Hovers Near 3-month High

The price of gold was steady near its 3-month high Tuesday morning as risk appetite improved ahead of an expected injection of cheap money from the European Central Bank.

Gold for April delivery, the most actively traded contract, edged up $2.20 to $1,777.10 an ounce. Yesterday, gold ended flat near its 3-month high on a stronger dollar.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, were unchanged at 1,284.61 tons.

This morning, the U.S. dollar was lingering near its 2-month low versus the euro and ticking lower against sterling. The buck was trading around its 3-month low against the Swiss franc, while easing from its 7-month high versus the yen.

In economic news, German consumer confidence is set to record a modest improvement in March as income expectations continued to grow, a survey by market research group GfK revealed. Following a value of 5.9 points in February 2012, the overall indicator is forecasting a value of 6.0 points for March, GfK said. This was in line with economists expectations.

Meanwhile, euro zone economic confidence rose more than expected to 94.4 in February from 93.4 in January, survey results from the European Commission showed. Economists were expecting the index to climb to 94.

The prices of silver and platinum were trading flat in morning deals.

From the U.S., the Commerce Department will release its durable goods orders report, which gives the value of orders placed for goods designed to last for more than 3 years, at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists expect a 0.7 percent drop in durable goods orders for January following a 3 percent increase in December.

At 9 a.m. ET, the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index is due to be released. Economists expect a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent month-over-month drop in the 20-city composite house price index for December.

Later during the session, the Conference Board is scheduled to release its consumer confidence report for February. The report, which is based on a survey of 5,000 U.S. households, is expected to show that the consumer confidence index rose to 64 in February from 61.1 in January.