http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=awDWEEuRnvRA

excerpts:

“It’s been an ongoing battle with the U.S. dollar, almost done on a daily basis.”

Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators increased their net-long position in New York gold futures in the week ended Aug. 4, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.

Speculative long positions, or bets prices will rise, outnumbered short positions by 193,514 contracts on the Comex division, the Washington-based commission said Aug. 7 in its Commitments of Traders report. Net-long positions rose by 20,743 contracts, or 12 percent, from a week earlier.

European central banks agreed last week to a third five- year cap on gold sales and said planned disposals by the International Monetary Fund could be done within the accord.

The European Central Bank and 18 other banks agreed to sell no more than a combined 400 metric tons of the metal a year through September 2014. That’s less than the annual cap of 500 tons in the current agreement, which expires Sept. 26.