To:Abner Hosmer who wrote (161) From: John Barendrecht Thursday, Jun 26, 1997 3:40 PM Respond to of 79916
Amgold sees $340-350 gold price stability JOHANNESBURG, June 26 (Reuter) - South Africa's Anglo American gold Investment Co ltd (Amgold) said on Thursday it saw a floor in the gold price in a range of $340-350 an ounce.
``There is every reason to believe that the current price range of gold of $340-350 per ounce will remain as a floor to the market, and that the market will be fairly stable under present economic circumstances,'' Amgold chairman Nicky Oppenheimer said in his annual review statement.
The gold price has plumetted due to negative sentiment from investors and speculators on the issue of possible central bank gold sales and gold reserves.
Oppenheimer said the prospect of such sales should not be viewed as negatively as it has been.
``The specific focus during this period on European central banks saw alarmist predictions of imminent wide scale sales of official gold holdings across the European Union. These predictions have proved to be incorrect,'' he said.
He added that gold sales into the market had been absorbed before and were likely to be so again.
``Whilst it is not expected that such sales in the future will disrupt the market particularly, negative speculation about such sales may well inflict greater harm to the price,'' he said.
Oppenheimer said the South African gold mining industry, the world's biggest, had risen to the challenges of falling prductivity and rising production costs.
``A more rational approach is being taken by the industry to gold reserve management and exploitation, which is evidenced in the exchange or sale of reserves or the merging of mining operations,'' he said.
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
