Gold rallied for the first time in more than a week, poised to complete its 11th consecutive annual gain.
Gains by the dollar against the euro had curbed demand for gold, bringing it its lowest price since July 7. Bloomberg reports the proceeding rally is from speculation low prices will spur demand from global investors and jewelers in India in the first quarter of 2012.
"While we haven't seen physical demand pick up yet, maybe people are anticipating it for next year," Marc Ground, a commodities strategist at Standard Bank, said in a telephone interview with Bloomberg. "January and February are usually good months in India, and a lower gold price might attract some buyers."
Gold is up 8.4% this year. As of 11:40 a.m. Dec. 30, 2011, gold is trading at $1,579.67 per ounce, still well below its Sept. 6 record of $1,923.70.
Next year
This end-of-the-year rally has sent mixed signals about what to expect for gold prices in 2012. Bloomberg reports investors are now thinking that gold is oversold: "Holding of gold in exchange-traded products are climbing for the first time in three weeks ... Assets rose 0.3 percent this week after falling 1.5 percent the previous two weeks."
Meanwhile, investor billionaire George Soros is of the opinion gold is the "ultimate asset bubble," and he cut 99% of his holdings in the first quarter of 2011, Securities and Exchange Commission data show.
Business section: Investing ideas
Gold prices have shown big gains over recent years, but will their winning streaks continue?
For ideas, we collected data on institutional money flows, and identified 10 gold mining stocks that have seen significant institutional buying during the current quarter.
Big money managers have extensive resources to analyze investing ideas. So if they're buying a certain stock, it's worth paying close attention.
Do you agree with this bullish sentiment? Use this list as a starting point for your own analysis.
List sorted by market cap. (Click here to access free, interactive tools to analyze these ideas.)
1. Kinross Gold
2. AuRico Gold Ordinary Share
3. NovaGold Resources: Engages in the exploration and development of mineral properties primarily in North America. Net institutional purchases in the current quarter at 20.7M shares, which represents about 12.49% of the company's float of 165.68M shares.
4. Aurizon Mines
5. Jaguar Mining
6. Lake Shore Gold Corp: Engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of gold properties in northern Ontario and Quebec of Canada, as well as in Mexico. Net institutional purchases in the current quarter at 125.9M shares, which represents about 33.42% of the company's float of 376.73M shares.
7. Richmont Mines
8. Midway Gold: Engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in North America. Net institutional purchases in the current quarter at 3.0M shares, which represents about 3.83% of the company's float of 78.26M shares.
9. Tanzanian Royalty Exploration: Engages in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties in Africa. Net institutional purchases in the current quarter at 5.1M shares, which represents about 5.25% of the company's float of 97.17M shares.
10. Vista Gold: Engages in the evaluation, acquisition, exploration, and advancement of gold exploration and development projects in Australia, North America, and Indonesia. Net institutional purchases in the current quarter at 4.4M shares, which represents about 7.02% of the company's float of 62.71M shares.
Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings over the last two years for the stocks mentioned above. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research.
List compiled by Eben Esterhuizen, CFA. Kapitall's Eben Esterhuizen and Rebecca Lipman do not own any of the shares mentioned above.
