Societe Generale is predicting a fourth-quarter average of $1,375, the lowest for the period in three years. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Barclays Plc, Credit Suisse Group AG and Morgan Stanley are also among those forecasting lower prices and just 10 of the 38 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect gold to gain for a 13th year. While Goldman ended a recommendation to sell on April 23, the bank said further declines are likely.

Prices rallied 10 percent since reaching a two-year low as the slump spurred purchases of bullion coins and jewelry. The U.S. Mint ran out of its smallest gold coin last month and sales across its products in April were the highest since December 2009. The U.K. Mint said it is increasing output after demand more than tripled and the Perth mint stayed open through the weekend to meet orders that reached a five-year high.

Biggest Importer

Premiums paid by jewelers in India, the biggest importer, to secure supply surged as much as fivefold in 10 days, the Bombay Bullion Association said. Sales by jeweler Chow Sang Sang Holdings International Ltd.’s 44 shops in Hong Kong more than doubled from April 13 to 27, compared with a year earlier. Trading of the Shanghai Gold Exchange’s benchmark cash contract reached a record April 22, with volumes 20 times the 10-year average, bourse data compiled by Bloomberg show.

John Paulson, the biggest investor in the SPDR Gold Trust, told investors in a letter last month that central bank stimulus would lead to inflation and he remained bullish. The billionaire’s Paulson & Co., based in New York, held a stake now valued at $3.1 billion at the end of 2012, according to a U.S. regulatory filing.

Expanding Reserves

Demand is also coming from central banks, owners of about 19 percent of all the metal ever mined. Their combined reserves have risen to an eight-year high as nations from Russia to Kazakhstan to Mongolia expanded holdings, IMF data show. The banks bought 534.6 tons last year, the most since 1964, and may add as much as another 550 tons in 2013, according to the London-based World Gold Council.

“Given that the fundamentals remain as sound as ever, we remain bullish,” said Mark O’Byrne, the executive director of Dublin-based GoldCore Ltd., a brokerage that sells and stores bullion coins and bars. “Global demand for physical bullion is set to lead to a recovery in prices.”

Hedge funds and other large speculators are getting less bullish, cutting their net-long position by 25 percent in the week ended April 23, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. They held 69,726 contracts betting on a decline, the second-biggest position since the data begin in 2006.

Investor demand may also wane as economic growth quickens, eroding the appeal of gold as a haven, said Rene Hochreiter, chief executive officer of Allan Hochreiter (Pty) Ltd. and last year’s most-accurate forecaster in the London Bullion Market Association’s annual price survey.