Bloomberg News – By Maria Kolesnikova June 15, 2012
Gold traders are bullish for a fourth consecutive week after hedge funds added to bets that prices will rally, exchange-traded products backed by the metal expanded and Europe’s debt crisis roiled markets.
Twenty-four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg said they expect gold to gain next week and six were bearish. A further three were neutral. Speculators boosted net-long positions by 27 percent in the week ended June 5, the latest Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. ETP holdings rose 21.07 metric tons valued at $1.03 billion since the start of June, halting a three-month retreat, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Greek voters return to the polls June 17 after last month’s elections failed to produce a government, increasing concern the 17-nation euro would fracture. Almost $5.7 trillion was wiped off the value of global equities since the end of March on signs of slowing growth, spurring speculation that policymakers will do more to shore up economies. Gold rose about 70 percent as the Federal Reserve bought $2.3 trillion of debt in two rounds of quantitative easing, or QE, ending in June 2011.
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