Gold May Rise to $950 an Ounce as Miners Lower Output (Update1)

By Claudia Carpenter

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Gold may rise to $950 an ounce by the end of year as central banks and miners hold back sales and investors buy the metal as a haven against falling stock prices, London-based researcher GFMS Ltd. said.

Central bank sales will drop 46 percent in 2008, while mine supply will decline for a third year, a GFMS report showed today. Demand from investors worldwide will soar 38 percent to 778 metric tons, with purchases in east Asia more than doubling.

``We're expecting gold to stage a powerful rally in the fourth quarter,'' GFMS Chairman Philip Klapwijk said at a conference in London today. There will be ``significant declines in stocks, which compete with gold.''