Despite the recent pullback in the gold price from its 26-year high of US$730 an ounce, the upward trend in the metal price was still intact, Gold Fields CEO Ian Cockerill said.

"In some respects the pull back has been quite healthy," Cockerill added during an investor presentation.

"We are still very positive about the gold price and do believe there is upside potential from where it is now," Cockerill stated.

In the medium term, Gold Fields expected the gold price to settle at or around the high $400s/oz to $500/oz, he stated.

At 16:15, gold was quoted at $660.35/oz, up $11.03/oz from its previous close.

The volatile gold price was having an impact on jewellery demand, which was a fundamental driver of the gold price, Cockerill said.

"Any let up in jewellery demand is going to be some what negative for the gold price," he added.

Charting the gold price against the oil price from 1979 to date showed that the gold price was "incredibly cheap", Cockerill said.

The spot price of Brent crude oil was last at $71.84 a barrel, up from the previous close of $70.67 a barrel.

The price of gold was likely to be supported by the oil price and Gold Fields was planning for an oil price of $60 a barrel and above and oil wasn't likely to return to $40 a barrel, Cockerill said.

"Certainly one of the key drivers of the increasing gold price in the 1980s was the sloshing around of excess petrodollars and the same thing is happening today," he added.

Dehedging, investment demand and central bank buying, Cockerill said, have supported the latest bull run in gold.