8:00PM BST 07 Jul 2013
Gold
posted its worst quarterly performance in more than a century for the three
months to the end of July, analysts at Macquarie calculate. Specifically, the
metal ended the second quarter of 2013 at $1,192 (£782) an ounce, its lowest
since August 2010 and representing a fall of more than 25pc below its level at
the start of the quarter.
The slide came as investors increasingly turned to equities, lured by the
prospect of a yield and reassured by improving economic data to move away from
the “safe haven” metal.
The price move downwards then accelerated as Ben Bernanke, the Federal
Reserve chairman, last month set out a timetable for unwinding the US central
bank’s vast quantitative-easing (QE) programme — making gold less attractive as
an inflation hedge.
But now analysts are starting to suggest that the gold price may be bottoming
out, or at least be close to that point. Outflows from exchange traded funds
(ETFs) have started to ease, but the gold price still remains near lows at
$1,214 an ounce.
The negative sentiment has been justified, analysts acknowledge. But part of
their reasoning is simply that the fall — representing the worst quarterly price
performance for gold since at least the year 1900 — has been so steep that the
tide has to turn.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/commodities/10165271/Gold-set-to-shine-again-in-recovery-from-worst-quarterly-drop-in-113-years.html
