Gold and silver were moving higher Monday to start the week’s trading, as market attention is focused across the Atlantic, where eurozone finance ministers are expected to decide on a government debt resolution package offered by . In other European news, the EU parliament voted to implement an that’s set to go into effect July 1.
U.S. earnings season is in full swing — Dow Jones Transportation Index component CSX Corp. (NYSE:) reports earnings after the bell today — but the U.S. economic data calendar is light until Thursday, when the Labor Department reports on weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance.
Spot gold was showing a gain of just over 0.5% this morning, bid at $1,675.50 per ounce with an ask price of $1,676.50. Spot gold traded as high as $1,679.50 and as low as $1,665.60. The London afternoon reference price fix came in at $1,675.50, $22.50 per ounce higher than Friday’s reference price, according to .
Spot silver was up 0.84%, bid at $32.47 per ounce with an ask price of $32.57. The morning high as of time of writing was $32.71 and the low was $31.84. Friday’s reference price was set at $32.45 in the London a.m., $2.09 per ounce higher than Friday’s price fix.
Shares of Vancouver’s Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:) were getting hammered as management announced it’s acquiring Vancouver’s Minefinders for total compensation of $15.60 per share based on their Jan. 20 closing price, with a total transaction valued around $1.5 billion. Silver production for the combined company is expected to increase from some 26 million ounces currently to more than 50 million ounces by 2015.
Gold bullion prices hit a of $1,677 an ounce in London morning trading Monday, according to BullionVault’s London Gold Market report. “Near-term technical have turned more bullish (for gold),” according to the latest technical analysis from Scotia Mocatta, though the precious metals dealer sees “psychological resistance looming at $1,700.”
Gold and silver trusts were showing gains Monday morning.
- The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:) was moving higher, up over 0.5%.
- The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:) was showing gains of nearly 0.7%.
- The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:) was up about 1%.
Gold and silver mining ETFs were showing strong gains.
- The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:) was showing gains of more than 1.2%.
- The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:) was up nearly 2.3%.
- The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:) was up around 2%.
Gold mining shares were showing healthy gains, with
Kinross Gold (NYSE:) and Yamana Gold (NYSE:) leading the way.
- Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:) was showing gains of about 1.1%.
- Barrick Gold (NYSE:) was up 1.4%.
- Eldorado Gold (NYSE:) was up less than 0.1%.
- Goldcorp (NYSE:) was up around 0.4%.
- Kinross Gold was up more than 3.5%.
- Newmont Mining (NYSE:) was trading flat.
- NovaGold Resources (AMEX:) was up nearly 1.2%.
- Yamana Gold was trading sharply higher, up almost 3.7%.
Silver mining shares were showing strong gains for the most part. Silver Standard Resources’ (NASDAQ:) shares were sharply higher, though the company has issued no news releases. PAAS shares were plummeting.
- Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE:) was moving higher, up more than 1.9%.
- Hecla Mining (NYSE:) was up around 0.2%.
- Pan American Silver was down around 8%.
- Silver Wheaton (NYSE:) was showing gains of more than 3.2%.
- Silver Standard Resources was up about 4%.
As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of contributed to this report.
