BlockBeats News, March 25 — Goldman Sachs stated that the recent decline in gold prices is generally in line with previous trends. The main factors causing the drop are rising interest rate expectations and market volatility. Daan Struven, head of Goldman Sachs’ Global Commodities Research Department, said today: “Given our current pricing framework, this decline is not surprising.” The recent rally in gold has exceeded fundamental expectations, and some of the pullback reflects a “certain degree of normalization.” However, Goldman Sachs remains optimistic overall, expecting gold prices to reach $5,400 per ounce by the end of the year. The reason is that ongoing central bank gold purchases, driven by governments diversifying assets (shifting toward assets with “lower political and financial risks”), provide support.