Newcrest bounces on Bernanke comments

Newcrest Mining has jumped the most in almost five years amid a bounce in the gold price and news the embattled gold miner is to slash jobs.

The company's share price surged by 11% to $11.04 at 1315 AEST in the wake of Ben Bernanke's comments that the Federal Reserve would keep stimulating the economy into the medium term, which in turn lifted the gold price. 

“Both sides of our mandate, both the employment side and the inflation side are saying that we need to be more accommodative,” Bernanke said.

The gold price inclined by 1.9% to $1,284 an ounce, but it is still near its lowest point in over three years as the recovering US economy continues to strengthen the greenback.

News also emerged today that Newcrest will cut an unspecified amount of jobs at its remote Telfer mine in Western Australia.

The miner reportedly held meetings with the mine's fly-in, fly-out workforce informing them cuts would come in the next six to 12 months.

Newcrest shares still remain at their lowest point since 2003, halving in the past six months as the gold price slumped and over the controversies created with its $6 billion dollar asset write-down last month (see our video What should investors do about Newcrest?).