Bullion demand fell 21 percent to 868.5 tons in the third quarter, the World Gold Council said yesterday.
Money managers cut their bullish gold bets by 13 percent to 87,689 futures and options contracts in the week ended Nov. 5, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. The net- long positions have more than doubled from this year’s low in June.
“The long-term players continue to look at gold as a hedge against inflation with easing continuing globally,” said Quincy Krosby, a market strategist for Newark, New Jersey-based Prudential Financial Inc., which oversees more than $1 trillion of assets. “In the short term, the focus is on tapering and everything depends on what the Fed’s next move will be.”