Gold enters bearish market

The sharp decline of 6.44 percent in the yellow metal last week marked a fundamental shift in global investments from commodities to equities, Gerhard Schubert, the head of precious metals at bank Emirates NBD said Saturday.Gold prices fell to 1,480 U.S. dollars per ounce on Friday, down by 102 dollars from last week.In his weekly assessment of precious metals, Schubert said the main drivers behind the slide were outflows from exchange traded funds with a gold underlying, a stronger U.S. dollar and stronger U.S. equity markets which had positive spillover effects on most other equity markets in the world.Gold is now at par with the price of platinum which Schubert also judged a bearish indicator.Although central banks would continue to buy gold for risk diversification and despite expected stronger physical demand from India and China, the expert added that those supportive actions for the price of gold \"might not be able to stem the flow of further liquidation from longs exiting the gold market in favor of other asset classes, most likely to be investing in equities.\"Stock markets in the United States, Europe and many emerging markets like in the Gulf Arab region reached all-time-highs and multi-year highs respectively last week amid growing trading turnover