February delivery gold rose $US6.20 to $US516.30 per ounce, its highest finish since mid-December at the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Futures broke above the $US515 mark reaching $520.20 as commodity fund buying and short covering, helped by a weaker US dollar, lifted prices for the second day following a steep pullback before Christmas, according to a Reuters report.
The spot gold price closed at $US516.80 per ounce ($A708.79).
Newcrest’s intra-day high pushed the $25 mark at $24.97, with the stock up 70c to $24.70 in morning trade, while Lihir was up 5c (2.3%) to $2.24.
St Barbara Mines was up 2.5c (6.8%) to 39c, Dominion was up 6c (5.5%) to $1.16, Equigold was up 5.5c (4.4%) to $1.30, Ballarat Goldfields was up 2.5c (6.4%) to 41.5c.
Croesus Mining and BMA Gold were up 3%, Oxiana was up 2.3%, Perseverance was up 4.8%, Pan Australian Resources was up 4.9%, Resolute Mining was up 3.1%, and Sino Gold was up 2.4%.
Amongst the explorers and would-be miners, Gleneagle Gold was up 4.2% to 25c, Bendigo Mining was up 5.2% to $1.62, Avoca was up 3.8% to 55c, Tanami Gold was up 2.9% to 17.5c, and Tianshan Goldfields was up 2% to 25c.
