"Despite the strong start to global markets this year, the underlying sentiment is still one of fear," said Chris Weafer, the chief strategist at Troika Dialog, an investment bank in Moscow. "Until the euro zone debt crisis is put to bed, all assets, even gold, are in the risk category."
Investors should avoid gold because its uses are limited and it lacks the potential of farmland or companies to produce new wealth, Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., wrote in an adaptation of his annual letter to shareholders that appeared on Fortune magazine's website on Feb. 9.
Vinik Asset Management LP, Tudor Investment Corp. and SAC Capital Advisors LP sold shares in the SPDR Gold Trust in the fourth quarter, filings showed this week. George Soros, the billionaire founder of Soros Fund Management LLC, raised his stake to 85,450 shares from 48,350.
Record investment drove gold demand to 4,067.1 tons last year, the most since 1997, the World Gold Council estimates.
Nine of 24 traders and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect copper to climb next week and seven were neutral. The metal for delivery in three months, the London Metal Exchange's benchmark contract, rose 7.4 percent to $8,161.50 a ton this year after declining 21 percent last year.
Ten of 14 people surveyed expect raw-sugar prices to drop next week. The commodity is up 1.8 percent this year at 23.72 cents a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York.
Eleven of 21 people surveyed anticipate lower corn prices next week, while 12 of 22 said soybeans will advance. Corn fell 0.3 percent to $6.4475 a bushel this year as soybeans rose 5.7 percent to $12.77 a bushel.
"By initiating further rounds of quantitative easing, central banks should be one of the supporting factors for commodity prices," said Daniel Briesemann, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. "The high uncertainty and growing risk aversion among market players surrounding the Greek debt saga should depress any meaningful price increases."