“Hedge fund sales are fast and large. We believe that the robust gold bull rally of the past 12 years is probably over. It may take a long time for investor confidence to return. But we do believe gold is becoming oversold and that tighter supply/demand fundamentals and a still positive macroeconomic background will eventually lead
to a steady grind higher.”

HSBC said it still believes gold is an attractive investment for portfolio diversification and as a hedge against certain inflationary scenarios.

“Despite this fall, we would not write off gold as an important part of an overall asset portfolio,” HSBC said. “We maintain an 8% tactical gold position
in our asset allocation.”

http://www.kitco.com/reports/KitcoNews20130415AS_hsbc.html