Precious Metals Mixed, Gold, Silver Shares Retreat
Gold and silver futures oscillated between gains and losses on Wednesday amid a relatively quiet day in the precious metals complex.
Gold for December delivery remained up by $4.50, or 0.3%, at $1,780.10 per ounce in afternoon trading, while silver for December delivery dipped by $0.05, or 0.1%, to $34.62 per ounce.
Shares of most mining companies fared worse than the metals, however, as the Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) slid 1.5% to 187.95. Among gold stocks, two of the largest decliners were AngloGold Ashanti (AU) and Harmony Gold (HMY) – which fell by 4.1% to $33.15 and by 5.0% to $7.93 per share, respectively.
Harmony Gold came under pressure after the South African-based gold producer announced that its Khusasalethu mine became the latest cite of strikes by mining workers. Until this point, Harmony had been the only major South African gold miner that had not fallen victim to the nation-wide strike that has caused substantial difficulties for its peers – including AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields (GFI).
As for silver equities, notable companies in the red included Coeur d’Alene Mines (CDE) and Silver Standard Resources (SSRI). CDE dropped by 2.2% to $27.81 while SSRI sunk 2.3% to $15.30 per share.
Source: GoldAlert
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