Gold predicted to decline in 2013

BNP Paribas SA lowered its 2013 gold price forecast to $1,865 an ounce from $1,900 an ounce.

Prices will average $1,780 an ounce in 2014, for the first annual decline in 14 years, Anne-Laure Tremblay, an analyst at the bank, said in an e-mailed report today.

“The fundamentals of the precious metal will turn progressively more negative as the market starts to anticipate a withdrawal of monetary easing measures in line with improving economic growth,” she said.

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