Bouncing gold 'will soften' in 2 years

Thu, 13 Jul 2006

The gold price will bounce back to $700 a troy ounce within the next 12 months but will soften within two years, Randgold Resources CEO Mark Bristow said on Thursday.

By late afternoon, the spot price of gold was quoted at $654.92 an ounce, up $4.63/oz from the metal's Wednesday close.

"The influences on gold are more positive than negative," Bristow said during a media briefing.

A key concern for gold mining companies was the price of gold, which continued to eat into profitability, he added.

The price of spot Brent crude was last quoted at $75.51 a barrel, up $1.12 a barrel from the previous close.