Gold prices declined moderately today , because the correction in the stock market and lackluster physical demand has prompted traders to fix their profits. Those , however, expectations about the fact that U.S. monetary policy will be "soft" gold is kept on an even greater fall. Recall that last week, Janet Yellen , who will replace Ben Bernanke as head of the Fed , said that he would support a "soft" monetary policy .

Note that experts Barclays, expect that in the near future the prices seem to be in the range . The bank is believed that on the eve of the New Year likely increase in purchases of metal in China, and this may provide some support to prices . In this case, the likely timing of stimulus measures to curtail the Fed believed the market receded even further.

But , nevertheless, these factors are not sufficient to ensure that prices have soared. Based on technical indicators , analysts predict that gold prices remain susceptible to sharp sales.

In addition , the published data show that the largest reserves of gold in gold ETFs - SPDR Gold, fell to 2.7 tons last week after locking his first weekly inflow since late August in the previous week - 2.1 tons.

Add that to the beginning of the year , gold prices have fallen by 23 per cent on expectations of a speedy completion of the ultra-soft monetary policy that pushed gold in recent years.

The cost of the December gold futures on COMEX today rose to $ 1279.80 per ounce.