Gold, Silver Shares Follow Metals to Multi-Week Lows

Shares of most gold and silver mining stocks extended their losses Friday afternoon.  The sector’s weakness coincided with a sell-off in precious metals and the broader financial markets.

The Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) – which was only fractionally lower this morning – later slid 1.2% to 186.05. In doing so, the XAU was on track for its lowest closing level in over two weeks.

Notable XAU components in the red included Goldcorp (GG), IAMGOLD (IAG), and Silver Standard Resources (SSRI).  GG fell by 1.1% to $43.67, IAG by 1.6% to $15.71, and SSRI by 2.0% to $14.54 per share.

(Analysis and rankings of every XAU component available at GoldAlert Pro – http://pro.goldalert.com )

The sector underperformed the broader equity indices, as the S&P 500 headed south by just 0.2% to 1,429.52.

As for the metals, COMEX gold futures settled down by $10.90, or 0.6%, at $1,759.70 per ounce.  In electronic trading, the yellow metal subsequently dropped to $1,753.50 – its lowest level since September 26th.  Silver futures fared worse, retreating $0.53, or 1.6%, to $33.55 per ounce – also a multi-week low.