Gold shares fall, but precious metals pare losses

Gold shares remained considerably lower in mid-day trading on Friday, but off their worst levels as precious metals pared their losses.

The AMEX Gold Bugs Index (HUI) fell as much as 2.8% to 511.88 this morning as reports on European sovereign debt downgrades triggered a broad-based sell-off on Wall Street. COMEX gold futures slid as much as 1.3% to $1,625.70 per ounce as the U.S. dollar surged higher against the euro currency.

However, the yellow metal cut its loss in half and was down by just 0.6% at $1,637.80 as of 12:15pm ET.  The HUI – a composite of the world’s largest gold producers – bounced back somewhat as well, but remained down by 2.1% at 515.54.

While many gold miners reported fourth quarter 2011 production results earlier this week, the news was much lighter on Friday.  One company that did announce results today though was AuRico Gold (AUQ) – the mid-tier gold producer formerly known as Gammon Gold that also acquired Northgate Minerals last year.

AuRico reported production of 92,815 gold equivalent ounces during the quarter at cash costs of $680 per ounce.  The Company generated revenue of $154 million, well below the $197 million consensus estimate, according to Capital IQ.  Despite the revenue miss, AUQ fell just $0.04 to $8.68 per share.

Among the large-cap producers included in the HUI, notable decliners included Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM), Harmony Gold (HMY), and Kinross Gold (KGC).  AEM fell by 2.3% to $36.60, HMY by 2.9% to $11.70, and KGC by 2.3% to $12.56 per share. – GoldAlert.com

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Posted by admin on Jan 14 2012. Filed under Gold stocks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry