JNN 22 May 2013 New York :  Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell on Tuesday as investors remained prudent ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s congressional testimony on the U.S. economic outlook scheduled for Wednesday.

The most active gold contract for June delivery fell 6.5 dollars, or 0.47 percent, to settle at 1,377.6 dollars per ounce.

Prices touched a low of $1,369.29 an ounce, though they pared losses after downbeat U.S. economic data weighed on stocks and the dollar, both of which have hit significant highs this week.

Gold was last down 0.3 percent at nearly $1,388 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures settled down $9.30 at $1,386.90 an ounce, having hit a low of $1,368.

(Read More: Traders Agree: Gold Will Keep Dropping)

Traders said the fall below the psychologically significant $1,400 level in the previous session triggered heavy selling and that the metal might re-test two-year lows of $1,321.35 hit on April 16, when it recorded the worst daily loss for 30 years.

Rallying stocks have hurt bullion’s appeal as an alternative investment this year, leading to hefty outflows from gold-backed exchange traded funds.

The largest, New York’s SPDR Gold Trust, reported a further 4.5 ton-drop in its holdings on Wednesday to 1,047.14 tons, the lowest since March 2009.

(Read More: ‘Gold Is Toast!’ Why It Could Drop to $500: Pro)

“We’re seeing some of the pension funds selling via the ETFs, which is a bit of a worrying sign,” Standard Chartered analyst Daniel Smith said. “At this point physical demand remains pretty strong, but it’s not enough to offset that wider showing by investors.”

Soros Fund Management LLC joined funds including Northern Trust and BlackRock in lowering its investment in the SPDR Gold Trust in the first three months of the year, a SEC filing showed on Wednesday.

Gold investment nearly halved in the first quarter as a brighter view of the U.S. economy prompted investors in the West to favour assets such as stocks over bullion, the World Gold Council said on Thursday.

It should be noted that the Gold prices in Oct ‘ 2012 reached it peak and hit around US$1800.00 per Troy Ounce , and it was forecasted that it may hit US$2400.00 in the next year 2013 , but the Market , has proved it wrong , and now at Present the Gold prices are at its Lowest in last years , and it is further forecasted that the Gold Prices , which were rising in the Past due to the Uncertainty in the US$ and the US Markets , will now reverse as there are countries in the Eurozone like Cyprus , Greece , Italy and Spain ,and Ireland which have come on the verge of Bankruptcy , and have set a Precedent that now these countries who are once the Buyer of the Yellow Metal , are now the seller of their reserve Gold Stocks to survive .

As they have no other way to survive , as their economies are even stagnant upto such a limit , that even after pumping Billions of Euros , they could not Jump start so now the future of these Most Economically advanced Nation is bleak and as a result the Net assets of these Nation and their Citizens have come to the Lowest Level , and thus there is no power in their even Wealthy to accumulate such Precious Metals , as they use to do.

It should also be noted that the Gold Prices have reached these height in the Last 10 years as back in May 2003 , the Gold Price were around US$400.00 per Troy Ounce , but as the War on terror and Iraq wars and the disaster like Petroleum Products Gambling were created by the Zionist Lobby , the US Dollar was never a good investment , so the Gold was traded and Procured by the International Investor , but finally they could not even save them selves even after Buying the Gold , as told earlier , that now the Most of the Western and Developed Nations Economies are in the Lull , and have gone bad to worse , so now as the Buying Power of the World is on the Collapse , so now the Gold is coming back to its Original Worth Price , and it is not very far away that it might come back to the Level of US$400.00 from where it started to rally upward.

Gold Premiums Rally in Asia

Lower gold prices have attracted physical buying in China. The world’s second-largest consumer after India bought a large amount of gold on Thursday.

Premiums for gold bars rallied to all-time highs in Hong Kong and Singapore on Thursday after bullion’s steepest drop since its April sell-off fuelled another round of buying, constricting supply. That did not counterbalance weaker investment demand, however.

“Physical demand had slowed somewhat recently with the result that ETF outflows could no longer be offset,” Commerzbank said in a note. “For example, U.S. coin sales totalled 36.5 thousand ounces in the first half of May, more than 200,000 ounces having been sold in the month of April as a whole.”

In other precious metals, silver was 0.8 percent higher at nearly $23 an ounce, having earlier touched its lowest level since April 16 at $22.09. The metal has fallen 5.2 percent so far this week, and is set for its worst weekly performance in a month.

Platinum fell 0.3 percent to almost $1,481 an ounce, but its premium over gold earlier reached its highest since August 2011 as South Africa’s output worries continued.

Miners at number one platinum miner Anglo American Platinum will strike from Thursday evening over proposed job cuts, a union official said, driving its shares lower and sending the rand to a four-year low.

Palladium rose 1.7 percent to $737 an ounce