
Gold stocks managed to buck the trend with Vista Gold (NYSE: VGZ) rising 3.48%, or $0.01, to close at $0.2974, showing a continuing upward trend. Eldorado Gold (USA) (NYSE: EGO) closed up $0.10, or 3.44%, to finish the trading session at $3.01. US-based gold exploration company, Walker Lane Exploration (OTC: WKLN) followed suit, rising $0.01 per share, or 1.61%, to close the day at $0.63.
Vista Gold (NYSE: VGZ) post a second quarter profit of $3.6 million, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier. On a per-share basis, Vista Gold said it had profit of 4 cents per share. That news was released on August 2nd. Since then, investors have been rallying behind Vista Gold (NYSE: VGZ) in lieu of a rising gold price.
Eldorado Gold (USA) (NYSE: EGO) has been sensitive towards gold price swings as well while management wrestles with the Greek government over closure of Eldorado Gold (USA) (NYSE: EGO) Greece permit to develop a mine in the northern region of Halkidiki, seen as one of the top foreign investments in the country. Eldorado Gold (USA) (NYSE: EGO) laid off its 1300 workers at the mine.
Walker Lane Exploration (OTC: WKLN) rose again for the third day in a row Tuesday and is gaining more ground amongst serious precious metals investors, apparently. Walker Lane (OTC: WKLN) is experiencing new interest. So much so that Financials Trends is now covering the company, despite the downturn in junior exploration stocks. Our editorial staff noted from information on its website that Walker Lane Exploration (OTC: WKLN) is a US-listed exploration stock and is not dependent on the Canadian investment banking community for its capital.
Gold has been trending upward in September, though reaching a hi of $1157 is not what anyone would consider a solid rally in the precious metals market, but it was enough to make investors become bullish on some gold stocks, like Vista Gold (NYSE: VGZ), Eldorado Gold (USA) (NYSE: EGO) and Walker Lane Exploration (OTC: WKLN).
The most actively traded contract, gold for December delivery, fell $4.90, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,126.80 a troy ounce on the Comex. Still, some gold analysts are beginning to imply that gold may be facing a long-over-due correction, though with modest expectations.
Many believe that gold has been manipulated by hedge funds, implying that the precious metal is down artificially by as much as $150 per troy ounce. Monday, The Swiss competition commission on Monday announced it was opening an investigation into possible collusion between seven large banks to manipulate the gold price.
The Swiss Authority said it believes Swiss banks UBS and Julius Baer coordinated with foreign banks Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Barclays, Morgan Stanley and Mitsui to manipulate bid ask-spreads in gold, silver, platinum and palladium trading.
Switzerland is perceived to be the global center for gold and precious metal refining and the main conduit for the physical bullion trade between east and west.
The Swiss probe comes after the US Department of Justice announced in June it is investigating at least ten banks for possible price manipulation of gold, silver and other precious metals, certain crude oil benchmarks and US government bonds following similar cases against Wall Street’s biggest financial institutions.