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Gold/Mining/Energy : Pangea Goldfields T.PGD -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Enigma who wrote (415)	11/2/1999 6:42:00 PM
From: salva	Respond to of 1178

INTERESTING PRESS RELEASE: ............................................................ Tuesday November 2, 5:48 pm Eastern Time CPM Group sees gold strong after sentiment shift By Alden Bentley NEW YORK, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Gold prices should grind higher in the coming months, moving back above $300 an ounce amid curtailed official sales, solid investment demand and reduced speculative shorting, said gold market consultants CPM group. Price weakness which pushed bullion just below $290 this week may be ``viewed as an opportunity for fresh long buying, as well as for some shorts to unwind some of their positions,' the group wrote in its 1999 Gold Survey which was released Tuesday. ``In other words, it would be expected to be short-lived. Prices are ultimately expected to stablize around the $315-$320 level, before heading higher,' CPM continued. The gold price surge off 20-year lows in August marks a cyclical turn in the market, though the September 26 announcement of a European central bank sales cap was only one, and not the first, catalyst for the rebound, the firm said. A technical rally was under way before prices soared $65 to 23-month highs in the days following the pledge by 15 European central banks to cap gold sales, lending and derivatives use. ``Technically based players will continue to be the opportunists they always have been. But going forward the opportunities are more likely to be on the long side than the short side,' CPM research director Jeffrey Christian said at a seminar about the report. ``They will still short the market but their shorts will probably be shorter term and smaller than they have been,' he said. A big mobilizaton of official gold reserves -- partly in the runup to the start of European monetary union in January 1999 -- created a ``hysteria' of concern about central bank sales in recent years, but was already waning when the rally started. CPM estimated central bank gold sales at 7.4 million troy ounces (230 tonnes) in 1999, down 49.3 percent from 14.6 million ounces in 1998 and nearly two-thirds lower than 1997's 20 million ounces of reserve sales. Investment demand for gold, though sporadic, was also already rising. This was seen in the heavily oversubscribed second British gold reserve sale on Sept 21, which initiated the first wave of shortcovering as prices moved through the $260s and $270s. In 1999, CPM said demand for coins, bullion medallions amd the like may total 11.8 million ounces, off from 15 million ounces in 1998 but above the demand levels of 1994-1997. Next year investment demand could rise to 12.2 million ounces. ``Lower and volatile equity values, a declining dollar, rising oil prices, signs of inflation and Y2K concerns have been reflected in investment demand for gold,' the report said. Whether prices exceed the October 5, 23-month highs near $340 an ounce in coming months could hinge on the performance of the U.S. stock market, which fell hard in early October before rebounding in recent weeks. A continued bull run on Wall Street could sap potential investment into gold, in which case prices would be expected to trade between $300 and $320 an ounce, Christian said. But if equities loose their attraction, gold could range higher to between $380 and $400 an ounce, he concluded. ............................................................