Outlook for gold prices is bullish in 2012

Looking further into 2012, many analysts are bullish on the precious metal.

For technical buyers, the signal could come early, if gold can break above its 200-day average of about $1620 an ounce.

“I think gold investors could be lurking in the wings if we get a good move back above [there],” Ole Hansen, an analyst from Saxo Bank, told Reuters.

For long-term investors, real gains could come in the fall.

What gold's decline since March "has really shown us is that in periods of extreme risk aversion, gold is not unscathed," Soozhana Choi, a commodities analyst at Deutsche Bank, told CNBC Monday. "We find that gold trades lower across the board with every other financial asset out there."

But "we do believe that over the course of the next year, we will see a recovery in gold prices," she added. Deutsche Bank forecasts that gold prices will hit $2,000 an ounce in the second half of 2012...more