Golds caught by rising greenback

U.S. equity markets were lower over the report period Jan. 18-25, mainly forced lower by poor earnings news. The S&P-500 index was down 2.3% of value, at 1,168.41 points.

That didn’t filter over to the base metal producers, but the golds, caught by a slightly firmer U.S. dollar, mostly fell.

The large gold producers are always a bellwether. Newmont Mining was US84 lower at US$41.62, while AngloGold Ashanti shed US$1.10 to finish at US$32.04. Among the smaller producers, Hecla Mining slipped US14 to US$5.44 and Compania de Minas Buenaventura dipped US34 to US$21.81. Mid-tier Randgold Resources was one of the few to post a big gain, vaulting US98 to finish the period at US$11.47.

Harmony Gold Mining extended its bid for Gold Fields to March 18. It has 11.5% of Gold Fields and a lockup agreement on the 20% held by Norilsk Nickel. Harmony was down US40 at US$8.39, Gold Fields fell US38 to US$11.35, and Norilsk was up US50 to US$55.

Apart from Norilsk, white goods specialists took a dip, despite stronger prices for both platinum and palladium during the period. Anglo American Platinum was off US90 at US$35.10, while Stillwater Mining fell US13 to US$10.43.

Almost all the major base metal producers rose during the period, off a generally buoyant week on the London Metal Exchange. Phelps Dodge was the big exception, sliding US$1.08 to US$99.92, but the big miners gained, partly as a result of projected increases in the iron ore price: CVRD was up US94 at US$29.92; Rio Tinto, up US$7.30 at US$125.15; and BHP Billiton, up US97 at US$24.81.

Print

Be the first to comment on "Golds caught by rising greenback"

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


*


By continuing to browse you agree to our use of cookies. To learn more, click more information

Dear user, please be aware that we use cookies to help users navigate our website content and to help us understand how we can improve the user experience. If you have ideas for how we can improve our services, we’d love to hear from you. Click here to email us. By continuing to browse you agree to our use of cookies. Please see our Privacy & Cookie Usage Policy to learn more.

Close