All these exploration plays being hit hard. Premier gold....PG...similar graph.....same story. Great company run by great awarded people. We need more faith in spot gold. However, U.S. housing and economy seen as improving, along with Asia and Europe has also settled down. Gold may yet see a pullback to 1630 and may dip below 1600 pulling stocks with it. Gold usually stages a rally from May through September......

Gold report partial......

Gold suffered technical selling pressure this week, with prices sliding to their lowest in more than a month at $1,638.82 after breaching a succession of support levels.

Spot gold eased 0.2% to $1,647.80 an ounce by 10.33am GMT, recovering from the previous session’s one-month low of $1,638.82. US gold futures for April delivery eased 0.1% to $1,647.30 an ounce.

Traders are confident chart support above $1,630 an ounce will keep losses in check.

"Prices are holding well around the $1,640s area ... it looks like every time you get close to the bottom of the range there are some buyers around," MKS trading head Afshin Nabavi said. "We should hold the $1,635 level on the downside.

"The market is looking at anything for direction for the time being and players are awaiting the G-20 at the end of the week as something that could provide it," he said.

G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors are set to meet in Moscow on Friday, with negotiations on competitive currency policies likely to dominate.

The Group of Seven (G-7) rich nations tried this week to cool growing tension over exchange rates sparked by weakness in the Japanese yen, but markets found the effort lacking in clarity.

European shares fell 0.3% on Wednesday after mixed corporate results, although the euro firmed against the dollar after better-than-expected euro zone industrial output data.

Gold has tended to track stock markets for much of the last year, benefiting from a sharper appetite for assets seen as higher risk, but the relationship is fluid.

"Support from both the investor and spec community is needed in order for gold to stage a convincing recovery from here," UBS said in a note. "But the lack of urgent fundamental motivation makes it difficult for gold market participants to muster enough conviction."

"After some support around $1,639, the next technical target is $1,625," it said. "We’d expect revitalised interest there."

China still absent

Gold lacked physical support as China’s markets remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.

"Given China is on holiday this week to celebrate the Lunar New Year, physical gold demand on the Shanghai (Gold) Exchange is expected to slow down after a year-on-year jump of 10% in January and February," Sharps Pixley said in a note.