Precious metal investors endured a volatile start to the week, with gold prices briefly breaking below USD $1280oz before turning around sharply

Precious metal investors endured a volatile start to the week, with gold prices briefly breaking below USD $1280oz before turning around sharply. At one, metals had climbed all the way back above the USD $1300oz mark, and currently sit essentially in line with they key 200DMA. Earlier pressure on the market seemed to be a classic case of 'buy the rumour sell the fact', with the market getting some support from the Donetsk election leading into the weekend, only to sell off early yesterday when the result was exactly as suspected. Not too different to a month or so ago when gold failed just shy of USD $1400oz. Market still lacking clear direction, with some pointing to 'soft' Chinese physical demand, somewhat strange when China's Q1 gold demand figures actually rose to an incredible 323 tonnes (1,300 tonnes annualised). Add Indian demand - theres basically no gold left. More details here (VIEW LINK)