Gold traders are the most bullish in five weeks as investors expanded their bullion holdings near a record on mounting speculation that central banks will have to do more to bolster economic growth.
Fifteen of 30 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg said they expect prices to rise next week and eight were bearish. A further seven were neutral, making the proportion of bulls the highest since July 6. Investors bought about $850 million of gold through exchange-traded products this month, taking the total of 2,411.7 metric tons yesterday to within 0.1% of the all-time high set July 5, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
China’s industrial-production growth weakened in July and U.S. and European manufacturing contracted. The Federal Reserve pledged to do more if needed on Aug. 1 and the European Central Bank promised last month to do “whatever it takes” to preserve the euro. Lower interest rates increase the allure of gold, which generally earns investors returns only through price gains. Bullion rose 70% as the Fed bought $2.3 trillion of debt in two rounds of quantitative easing through June 2011. . .View Full Article