Investors flock to gold stocks as markets tank

Gold producer stocks were a shiny spot Wednesday as investors sought a safe haven from the broader market freefall.

Wall Street tumbled again, with anxieties about the financial system running rampant after the government bailed out AIG, the world's largest insurer. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 300 points. But prices for gold, long considered a hedge against uncertainty, jumped more than $60 an ounce Wednesday as jittery investors pulled money out of equities and put it into less volatile assets.

Shares of Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp. rose $3.48, or 12.1 percent, to $32.26, while shares of Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp. increased $3.64, or 9.2 percent, to $43.19.

Gold Fields Ltd. shares rose 84 cents, or 10.9 percent, to $8.54 and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. shares rose $1.21, or 5.1 percent, to $24.77.

Gold for December delivery jumped $64.50, or 8.25 percent, to $845 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest trading level since Aug. 29. Prior to the rally, gold had fallen 25 percent since surging to record levels above $1,000 an ounce in March.

"The same market participants who got out of gold are coming back in now. This is the start of an upward move," said Carlos Sanchez, an analyst with CPM Group in New York.