Gold traded in a narrow range between $1,307 and $1,332 per ounce last week, and ended the week almost unchanged, down by just 0.2%, at $1,324 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 $32bn SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD.US), ended last week down by 0.7% at $127.62, while London-listed Gold Bullion Securities (LSE: GBS) ended the week down 0.3% at $127.27. So far this year, shareholders of Gold Bullion Securities have seen the value of their holdings rise by 10.0%, while the value of SPDR Gold Trust shares has risen by 8.2%.
SolGold (LSE: SOLG) is one of the UK market’s hottest gold explorers at the moment, and the firm’s stock rose by another 25% to 14p last week, after SolGold said it would increase its stake in the Cascabel copper-gold project from 50% to 85%. SolGold also reported that it had terminated hole 5 at Cascabel at 1,370m, and delivered the first of several assay reports for the final stages of the hole, highlighting 324m of grading at 1.07% copper and 1.16 g/tonne of gold. SolGold’s share price could see further action today, as the firm published assay results for the remainder of the hole this morning, showing that the deepest section, from 1,194m to 1,330m, assayed at 0.95% copper and 0.96g/tonne of gold.
Pan African Resources (LSE: PAF) has performed strongly recently, but the firm’s stock fell by 10% to 14p last week. Patagonia didn’t release any operational news, but did disclose through stock market report that executives inside the firm — including the general manager of its Barberton Mines division — sold nearly £150,000 of their own shares last week. This might suggest that the sellers concerned see limited near-term upside for the firm’s share price.
Shares in Patagonia Gold (LSE: PGD) fell a further 10% to 9.9p last week, leaving them down by 21% on their 2014 high of 12.5p. The firm announced that its board of directors had received a portion of their 2013 fees in shares, in lieu of cash, and this may have served as a reminder that despite growing production from Patagonia’s Lomada gold mine in Argentina, the firm’s cash reserves had dwindled to just $739,000 at the time of its last published accounts. Patagonia’s management may soon need to raise more cash to fund the ongoing development of its flagship Cap-Oeste project.