Gold and silver shares headed lower Tuesday but pared their losses in mid-day trading alongside precious metals.
The Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) tumbled as much as 4.2% this morning, but recovered approximately half of its loss early this afternoon. The XAU’s bounce coincided with a rebound in not just gold and silver bullion, but also the broader equity markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) turned a 100.88 point loss at 11,296.12 into a 65.35 point advance following yesterday’s steep sell-off.
COMEX gold futures plunged as far as $48.40 to $1,628.20 per ounce just after 10am ET, but recaptured over a third of their losses to trade down by $29.00 at $1,646.60 as trading progressed.
Silver futures followed a similar path as the yellow metal. COMEX silver for December 2011 delivery hit an intra-day low of $30.37 this morning, but bounced back to trade lower by just 0.7% at $31.62 per ounce.
Among large-cap gold shares, two of the worst performing names on Tuesday were Harmony Gold (HMY) and Newmont Mining (NEM). HMY slipped 2.9% to $11.82 per share, while NEM dropped 2.8% to $64.38 per share.
Pan American Silver (PAAS) and Silver Standard Resources (SSRI), two of the larger silver companies in the sector, retreated 1.9% and 2.2%, respectively.
Fortuna Silver to Begin Trading on NYSE
- Established in 2004, Fortuna is a growth-oriented, silver and base metal producer focused on mining opportunities in Latin America.
- The Company's primary assets are the Caylloma silver mine in southern Peru and the San Jose silver-gold mine in Mexico.
- Shares of FVI.TSX have climbed 26.6% in 2011, bringing the company's market capitalization to C$746.3 million.
