Traders are the least bullish on bullion in four weeks as jewelry purchases slowed during this month’s rally. Thirteen analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect prices to rise this week, 10 were bearish and seven neutral, the lowest proportion of bulls since June 28.

“Gold has made a terrific recovery, but there’s going to be resistance from people who got caught before, so there’s not too much to the upside for now,” said Donald Selkin, who helps manage about $3 billion of assets as the New York-based chief market strategist at National Securities Corp. “People are going to wait and see what the Fed is going to do.”

Miner Writedowns

Prices dropped in eight of the past nine months as the dollar rallied and equity markets gained, curbing demand for the metal as an alternative asset. The declines forced mining companies, including Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Mining Corp., to announce at least $15 billion of writedowns in the past two months.

Billionaire John Paulson’s PFR Gold Fund tumbled 23 percent in June, extending this year’s loss to 65 percent. He owns the largest stake in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange- traded product backed by bullion. Holdings in global ETPs retreated 25 percent this year to the lowest since May 2010, erasing $57.6 billion from the value of the assets.

Paulson & Co. has reiterated its commitment to investing in bullion and stocks of gold producers to hedge against currency debasement as central banks pump money into economies. Accelerating inflation is a risk and gold is an important part of any portfolio, Paulson said July 17 at the CNBC Institutional Investor Delivering Alpha Conference in New York.

$280 Million

Money managers withdrew $280 million from gold funds in the week ended July 24, according to Cameron Brandt, the director of research for Cambridge, Massachusetts-based EPFR Global, which tracks money flows. Outflows from commodity funds were $344 million, according to EPFR.

Goldman pared its 12-month commodity-return forecast to 0.1 percent on July 22. That compares with an expected gain of 2.3 percent over 12 months made in a June 12 report. Agriculture and precious metals will lead the declines, the bank said.

Net-long positions in crude oil climbed 9.8 percent to 334,094 contracts, the highest since the CFTC data begins in June 2006. Prices fell 3.1 percent last week, the first drop in more than a month, as China announced plans to cut excess manufacturing capacity.