Managed-money investors cut net long gold positions on US commodity exchange COMEX by just under 1% to 152,758 contracts for the week to April 5, the first decline in net long positions for five weeks, data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed Monday.
Net long positions in gold declined 0.9%, but remained close to last week's 3.5-year high of 154,205 contracts, data showed.
Strong investor support has added momentum to gold's bull run this year, up around over 15% since the start of 2016, and "remain very optimistically positioned," according to Commerzbank in a daily note Monday.
However, the large net long positions built up this year still offer significant correction potential if prices were to slide, according to the bank.
Spot gold is trading at three-week highs of around $1,250/oz Monday morning, on inflationary concerns and a softer dollar.
Prices dipped last week as interest rate expectations edged higher, but have recovered Monday from continued concerns around global growth and safe haven demand.
Meanwhile, SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded product, showed weekly outflows of 0.28 mt for the week ending Friday.
The outflow is down on the previous week, which saw the fund's first outflow of the year of 5.65 mt, according to data released by the company Monday.
Total assets in the fund now stand at 817.81 mt, down from a 3.5-year high of 823.7 mt at the end of March.
Net long positions in silver were down 2.6% at 43,263 contracts, according to CFTC data.
Platinum was down 0.5% at 14,656 contracts and palladium was 13% lower at 6,437 contracts.
