The Olympic Games may be over, but for some investors the gold rush is still on.
All eyes were on the mid-cap index today, where African Barrick Goldtopped the table on news that Canada’s Barrick Gold, which has a 74pc stake in the company, is in talks to sell that holding. The potential buyer of the business is China National Gold Group, which claims to be the nation’s biggest producer of the yellow metal. While African Barrick Gold surged as high as 14pc during trading and closed up 31.4 –or 8pc – at 425p, it did not distract investor attention from other London-listed gold producers.
Avocet Mining, which digs for the metal in West Africa, climbed 4.4 to 92¾p, while Russian gold producer Petropavlovsk was up 26½ to 459.3p, the second-biggest riser on the index. Gold fever also spread to the FTSE 100, where Fresnillo was 22p better off at £15.11, Polymetal International added 13½ to 919½p and Randgold Resources gained 75p to £62.05.
“In terms of read across we note that recent M&A is focused on producing gold companies,” Liberum Capital analyst Kate Craig wrote in a note to clients, identifying Avocet as a possible target.
Despite the excitement generated by the miners, overall it was another relatively quiet summer session for the wider market. The FTSE 100edged up just 1.47 points to 5,834.51 and the FTSE 250 only managed to gain 4.17 to 11,502.29 on another day slow day for traders.
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