Gold Mining Stocks Slightly up on Choppy Trading

Gold mining stocks fluctuated around the unchanged mark during regular-session trading on Thursday, as miners tracked the price of physical gold, which saw some choppy trading itself.

Shortly before 3 p.m., the Dow Jones U.S. Gold Mining Index traded up 0.47 percent for the day, bouncing back after early-morning trading that saw the index drop as much as 1.31 percent.

That index followed the price fluctuations of gold throughout the day, which fell at the beginning of the session's trading before recovering and exceeding its price losses. Comex February gold futures ended the U.S. day sessions close to the day's high, trading up $11.10 to $1,623.80 an ounce.

The rise in gold occured in spite of a strenghtening in the U.S. dollar, whose index traded high on Thursday. Generally, gold prices and dollar index prices trade in opposite directions, but it is possible for both assets to rise concurrently if developments signal a strong move by investors into safe-haven deposits.

Out of individual gold mining company stocks, one notable outlier was IAMGOLD Corp. (NYSE:IAG). Shares in IAMGOLD were up 2.78 percent after the company announced in a statement it had finished exercising a $10.5 million earn-in option related to a joint venture in West Mali, and would see its 50 percent interest in the mine vest during the current quarter.