Gold rose in New York on Monday to $1,064 an ounce.
It added to gains overnight and at one point touched $1,074, though it has softened slightly in the hours since.
Gold and other dollar-denominated commodities are currently being pulled hither and thither by the fluctuations in the US currency, which touched a near 13-year high before falling back.
While the US dollar remains strong - the Financial Times points out it remains just 0.4 per cent below its 12-year high from March - the amount of money that has been bet on a negative move in gold meant there was some rapid 'covering' of positions as the trend turned, pushing the price markedly higher. There is, though, still a big wager in place that the gold price will fall.
Reuters says data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission show hedge funds and money managers raised their net short position in gold (bets the price will fall) to the biggest on record last week.
“Assets in SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s top gold-backed exchange-traded fund, are at their lowest since September 2008,” says Reuters. Gold recorded its biggest monthly drop since March 2013 in November.
All of this suggests that any rise might be a short-lived ‘relief rally’ and that prices will fall back. This would most probably happen after the release on Friday of a key jobs report, which will give a strong indication on whether the Federal Reserve will, as expected, raise rates in two weeks’ time.
As rates rise tends to prompt falls in non-yielding commodities relative to income-generating assets. It will also give a further leg-up to the dollar, which would increase the expense of buying for overseas investors.
Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI) ended last trading session with a change of 4.55 percent. It trades at an average volume of 6.04M shares versus 3009644 shares recorded at the end of last trading session. The share price of $2.53 is at a distance of 24.02 percent from its 52-week low and down -57.69 percent versus its peak. The company has a market cap of $2.06B and currently has 812.52M shares outstanding. The share price is currently 4.61 percent versus its SMA20, -4.08 percent versus its SMA50, and -23.47 percent versus its SMA200. The stock has a weekly performance of 1.2 percent and is -43.87 percent year-to-date as of the recent close.
AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU) recently recorded 2.07 percent change and currently at $6.4 is 13.48 percent away from its 52-week low and down -51.22 percent versus its peak. It has a past 5-day performance of -3.9 percent and trades at an average volume of 4.32M shares. The stock has a 1-month performance of -22.71 percent and is -26.44 percent year-to-date as of the recent close. There were about 411.66M shares outstanding which made its market cap $2.63B. The share price is currently -10.16 percent versus its SMA20, -20.61 percent versus its SMA50, and -27.72 percent versus its SMA200.
NovaGold Resources Inc. (NG) has 319.81M outstanding shares, at current price of $3.74 each. The company now has a market cap of $1.20B after showing a change of 4.18 percent during the last trading session. The share price is currently 5.69 percent versus its SMA20, 2.49 percent versus its SMA50, and 5.25 percent versus its SMA200. The recent price brings its past 5-day performance at 7.47 percent and trades at an average volume of 1.28M shares. The stock is up 46.09 percent from its 52-week low and -12 percent versus its peak. It has a 1-month performance of 2.19 percent and is 26.78 percent year-to-date as of the recent close when its volume was 2330190 shares.
Source: http://www.economicnewsdaily.com/the-hottest-miners-of-this-week-gold-fields-ltd-gfi-anglogold-ashanti-ltd-au-novagold-resources-inc-ng/9221045/
