Gold-mining companies reduced their hedges against lower prices by 2.5 per cent in the fourth quarter to the lowest in 12 years, GFMS Ltd. and Societe Generale said. | |
| Hedges through forward sales, loans and options at the end of December fell to 43.3 million ounces, the lowest since 1994, from 44.4 million in September, London-based research company GFMS and Paris-based Societe Generale's Corporate and Investment Banking said in a report e-mailed yesterday. Hedgers sold gold for $525 an ounce while non-hedgers got $616, the report said. |
| |
| Most producers increased their hedges when gold fell to a 20-year low in 1999. Since then, gold has more than doubled, forcing mining companies to buy on the ``spot,'' or immediately delivery, market to unwind hedges. |
| |
| Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp., the world's biggest gold producer, Johannesburg-based Gold Fields Ltd. and Newcrest Mining Ltd. of Melbourne, led the declines in hedging during the quarter, according to the report. |
| |
|
| |
