The price of gold performed poorly last week, dropping to a low of $1,277 per ounce on Friday morning, before recovering to end the week down by 2.2%, at $1,310 per ounce.
Of course, the only practical way for most private investors to invest in gold is through exchange-traded funds. The largest gold ETF, the $38bn SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD.US), ended last week down 1.2% at $126.53, while London-listed Gold Bullion Securities (LSE: GBS) ended the week down 2.3% at $126.13.
So far this year, shareholders of Gold Bullion Securities have seen the value of their holdings fall by 22.0%, while the value of SPDR Gold Trust shares has fallen by 22.5%.
Against a backdrop of weaker commodity prices, several companies managed to outperform the falling price of gold last week.
Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG) inched up 1.8% to 76.5p last week.
Investors in this Russian-based gold miner may have been encouraged by news that IRC, the Hong Kong-listed iron ore company in which Petropavlovsk has a 40% stake, had completed a second scheduled round of funding on time, raising a further $135m to help strengthen IRC’s balance sheet at no direct cost to Petropavlovsk.
Centamin (LSE: CEY) edged up 0.6% last week to 45.2p.
The Egyptian firm’s share price remains around 50% lower than it was before the firm’s mining licence was questioned by an Egyptian court, meaning that Centamin, which is profitable, is currently valued extremely attractively relative to the price of gold, but is effectively an arbitrage play on the future of the business, as the firm’s Sukari mine in Egypt is its only substantial asset.
Centamin’s share price recently gained extra support when it was added to the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF, which now has a 5.96% stake in the firm.
Kryso Resources (LSE: KYS) climbed 3.6% to 29p last week.
The firm is developing the 1.9 million ounce Pakrut gold project in Tajikistan, and is currently listed on AIM but is in the final stages of preparation for a main board listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This is expected to result in Kryso de-listing from AIM, making it a more complex investment for UK shareholders.