The S&P/ASX All Ords Gold (Index: ^AXGD) (ASX: XGD) has had a great start to week and in early afternoon trade is up 1.3%.
Today's gain means the gold index has risen a remarkable 9% in the last 30 days and comes courtesy of strong gains from the following shares:
The Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN) share price, the Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) share price, and the Medusa Mining Limited (ASX: MML) share price have all climbed at least 3% today.
Elsewhere, there have been notable gains from OceanaGold Corporation (ASX: OGC), Resolute Mining Limited (ASX: RSG), St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM), and Perseus Mining Limited (ASX: PRU).
What happened?
With the banks and BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) being sold-off, investors appear to be in a risk-off mood today. This has led to gains for the gold miners and defensive shares like Transurban Group (ASX: TCL).
The gold miners also received an additional boost from a rise in the gold price. The spot gold price rose sharply on Friday after the U.S. dollar tumbled following a weak jobs report.
At the time of writing the spot gold price is US$1,279 an ounce, up around 1.5% from its low on Friday.
Should you invest in the gold miners?
Whilst I agree with the view that a little exposure to gold can be a good thing for a portfolio, I still feel as though now is not the time to initiate a position.
Next week the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise rates once again. As rates rise I expect the gold price will gradually slide lower, dragging down the gold miners as well.
For this reason I think investors should hold off investing the gold miners and look at opportunities elsewhere in the market.
