Managed-money investors increased their net long gold positions on US commodity exchange COMEX to 174,107 contracts for the week to April 19, adding to last week's four-year high, data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed Monday.
The figure is up 12% from 170,634 contracts the previous week, and is the largest net long position since February 2012.
With each contract worth 100 oz, the total represents around 550 mt of gold.
The gold price has risen over 15% since the start of 2016, but has slipped around $30 in the past week to just over $1,230/oz Monday morning, under pressure from a firmer dollar and a rebound in crude prices.
The price may also be under pressure from "profit-taking by this short-term-oriented group of investors," according to Commerzbank in its daily note Monday.
"The direction taken by the gold price in the short term is likely to depend on the US Federal Reserve: if it raises the prospect of another rate hike in the near future at its meeting on Wednesday, this is initially likely to weigh on the gold price," Commerzbank said.
CME Fed Fund Futures show the probability of a rate hike by its next meeting, in June, is only 20% Monday morning.
The likeliness of a hike by September is still below 50%, according to the CME.
SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded product, showed weekly outflows of 7.43 mt for the week ending Friday.
After significant gains this year, up 176 mt in the first quarter, the fund is down 2.3% from its 3.5-year high in March to 805.03 mt.
Net long positions in silver were up 21.2% to a record high of 67,903 contracts, according to CFTC data for the week to April 19. Last week silver hit an 11-month high of around $17.70/oz.
Silver is trading around $16.90/oz Monday morning.
Platinum was up 7.1% to a three-week high of 17,586 contracts, and palladium 16.1% higher at 5,561 contracts.
