Gold Slaps Below $1430 In Asia

Gold futures got slapped below $1430 an ounce in the Asia electronic session today extending its last week’s losses. The sentiments for gold were hurt by the recent cuts in the price forecasts by various investment banks.
Downside tilt in gold began after the investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said that gold's prospects for the year have eroded, recommending investors close out long positions and initiate bearish bets, or shorts. The shift in outlook was the latest among banks and investors who have soured on gold as its dozen-year runup has been followed by a 12% decline in the last six months.
Goldman's note followed another major blow to the metal last week from Société Générale. The French bank declared "The End of the Gold Era" in the title of its report, positing not just the possibility of a bear market but an outright crash and saying "gold may have had its last hurrah."
Deutsche Bank and UBS both cut their average gold price forecasts yesterday, to $1637 and $1740 respectively.
Gold for June delivery are trading $61 at $ 1440 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, it dropped $63.50, or 4.1%, to settle at $1,501.40 an ounce, after dipping to a low of $1,491.40. It fell 4.7% for the week.
In the coming week, the U.S. is to publish a broad range of economic data, with reports on manufacturing activity, the housing sector and inflation due for release.
Investors will be closely watching this data as they attempt to gauge the strength of the U.S. recovery. Any improvement in the U.S. economy could scale back expectations for further easing.
On Friday, data showed that U.S. retail sales fell 0.4% in March, the largest decline in nine months and missing expectations for a 0.1% increase. A separate report showed that the preliminary reading of the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index fell to 72.3 in April, the lowest level since July, from a final reading of 78.6 in March.
MCX June gold futures may open today’s session near Rs 26500 levels with support near Rs 26000 and Rs 25000 levels.

Posted in: Commodity Gold Updates