Gold and silver shares moved higher Thursday on the back of a broad-based rally in commodities. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index (XAU) climbed 1.2% to 208.50 in morning trading.
Strength in the XAU came despite a modest drop in gold bullion, which fell $2.55 to $1,526.50 per ounce. While the yellow metal moved lower, silver jumped $0.46, or 1.3%, to $36.35 per ounce. Other commodities, including copper and oil, climbed 2.4% and 2.3%, respectively.
The commodities complex was boosted by weakness in the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), which fell 0.3% to 75.21 against a basket of foreign currencies. The euro rose 0.3% to 1.4313 against the dollar following the ECB’s latest monetary policy meeting.
With today’s advance, the XAU extended its weekly gain to 4.5%. Furthermore, the gold/XAU ratio has now declined from a multi-year high of 8.1 on June 16 of this year to its current level of 7.3.
While the present level is still quite high on a historical basis, the decline in recent weeks is an encouraging sign for those invested in precious metals shares – many of which have lagged gold and silver bullion substantially in recent years.
Precious metals companies in the news on Thursday included Gold Fields (GFI), which announced that attributable production for the June quarter is expected to come in at 872,000 gold equivalent ounces. This level represents a 5% increase over the first quarter of 2010. The South African gold miner also reported that total cash costs and notional cash expenditure for the quarter are forecasted to be approximately $815 per ounce and $1,185 per ounce, respectively. GFI added 0.8% to $14.96 per share.
Other notable gold shares moving higher included AngloGold Ashanti (AU), Goldcorp (GG), and Harmony Gold (HMY). In morning trading, AU, GG, and HMY rose 0.9%, 0.7%, and 1.2%, respectively.
Colossus Appoints Former Barrick Executive to Board
- In 2009, Mr. Anthony was appointed Chief Operating Officer of African Barrick Gold, which listed on the FTSE in 2010 with a market capitalization of $3.8 billion.
- Mr. Anthony graduated from Queens University in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering (Mineral Processing)."
- In order to make room for Mr. Anthony, Dr. Vic Wall agreed to step down as a director of the Company, but will maintain his current Vice President, Exploration title and will continue to guide all exploration efforts at Serra Pelada.
