Gold traders are the most bearish in more than a year on
mounting speculation that improving economic growth from the U.S. to China will
curb demand for this year’s worst-performing precious metal.
Twenty analysts surveyed by Bloomberg this week expect
prices to fall next week, while 11 were bullish and three were neutral, making
the proportion of bears the highest since Dec. 30, 2011. Hedge funds cut bets
on higher prices by 56 percent since October and are approaching their least
bullish stance on gold since August, government data show. The metal fell to a
five-week low yesterday, and billionaire investors George Soros and Louis Moore
Bacon reported reduced stakes in exchange-traded products backed by gold.
Gold Price
The metal fell 2 percent to $1,641.88 an ounce in London
this year, reaching $1,637.95 yesterday, the lowest since Jan. 4. Gold climbed
7.1 percent last year in the longest annual rally in at least nine decades. The
Standard & Poor’s GSCI gauge of 24 commodities is up 5 percent this year
and the MSCI All- Country World Index of equities gained 4.8 percent. Treasuries
lost 1.1 percent, a Bank of America Corp.
index shows.
Gold’s drop compares with a 0.6 percent gain for silver this
year. Platinum and palladium rose at least 9.4 percent on concern mine supply
will fall as demand increases. An ounce of platinum bought as much as 1.054
ounces of gold yesterday, the most in 17 months, data compiled by Bloomberg
show. Industrial usage accounts for about 10 percent of bullion consumption,
compared with more than half for the other three metals.
(Source: Bloomberg)
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