A 1.6% fall in the spot gold price overnight has seen the ASX-listed gold miners hammered.
Spot gold fell 1.6% to US$1,333 an ounce after peaking at US$1,370 an ounce earlier this month as the chart below indicates.
The fall has been blamed on stronger US economic data, particularly after US non-farm employment data for June 2016 easily beat market expectations. That could see the US Federal Reserve push ahead with its plans to raise interest rates – making bonds more attractive and gold less attractive.
In early trading, gold miners have seen their share prices sink as the following table shows.
| Company | Fall |
| Burey Gold Limited (ASX: BYR) | -9.5% |
| Orinoco Gold Ltd (ASX: OGX) | -6.9% |
| Troy Resources Ltd (ASX: TRY) | -6.7% |
| Blackham Resources Ltd (ASX: BLK) | -6.5% |
| St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM) | -4.4% |
| Ramelius Resources Limited (ASX: RMS) | -4.2% |
| Resolute Mining Limited (ASX: RSG) | -4.2% |
| Beadell Resources Ltd (ASX: BDR) | -4.0% |
| Regis Resources Limited (ASX: RRL) | -4.0% |
| EVOLUTION FPO (ASX: EVN) | -3.9% |
| Silver Lake Resources Limited. (ASX: SLR) | -3.8% |
| Perseus Mining Limited (ASX: PRU) | -3.4% |
| Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) | -3.2% |
| Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) | -3.1% |
| OceanaGold Corporation (ASX: OGC) | -2.8% |
Source: Google Finance
However, the falls may be overdone, given many Australian-based miners are making huge margins on gold priced in Australian dollars. With an exchange rate of around 76.13 US cents, that equates to a price of A$1,754 an ounce. A number of the miners listed above have all in sustaining costs of around A$1,000 an ounce, so they are making substantial margins.
Foolish takeaway
As the US economy continues to strengthen, despite woes in other parts of the world – like Europe and China – gold is likely to come under more selling pressure. That could see the gold miners hit even harder.
