High prices haven’t stopped “gold-lust consumers” from buying and investing in gold, reports India’s The Hindu newspaper.

According to the paper, “industry experts say that the high prices had not affected sales of gold jewelery. The consumer demand had in fact increased to 773.6 tone from 721.9 tonne compared to last year.”

Despite The Hindu’s optimism, gold prices dropped 1.3% over last week.

“Gold held steady at around $945 in the far East, but started down once London opened, and continued to plummet through the first hour of the New York session on Friday,” says commodities expert Doug Casey, “falling as low as $905 before turning north for the balance of the day and finishing at $916.20, down $18.10.”

“Gold suffered, at least in part, as traders rotated money into equities on the back of Citigroup’s better-than-expected earnings report.”

“I know it can be a bit daunting to watch the gold prices shoot up over $1,000 per ounce, and then fall below $900 per ounce just a couple weeks later,” says Rich Chekan. “But as I have said throughout this bull market which started about seven years ago, this decade belongs to commodities. And we’re not anywhere near done yet.

“The facts haven’t changed. Precious metals are still in a secular bull market, while the almighty dollar is still stuck in a depressing bear market.

“Our beloved gold has risen dramatically…nearly 280% over the past 7 ½ years. Silver has gained an incredible 350%! But both of these metals have risen in large part as a result of the fundamentally weak US dollar.”