GOLD

Mexico-focused miner AuRico Gold (AUQ.TO: Quote) has offered to buy Northgate Minerals (NGX.TO: Quote) for C$1.46 billion ($1.5 billion) in a friendly deal that would nearly double its output and expand its geographic reach as gold prices soar.

Northgate Minerals Corp. shares rocket 24.94 percent Monday after investors learn it will be bought by AuRico Gold Inc. for $1.48 billion.

Shares of large silver mining companies mostly rose Monday along with the broader stock market as investors ignored the falling price of the white metal on fresh optimism about the strength of the economy.

Shares of large gold mining companies fell Monday, along with the price of the yellow metal, in a sentiment shift away from precious metals and other safe havens toward riskier assets like stocks.

Gold and silver prices closed lower Monday as some precious metals investors took profit from recent gains and other investors decided fears of a double-dip recession were overblown and put their money in riskier assets like heavily discounted stocks.

Gold prices dropped sharply in holiday-thinned trade on Monday, falling as much as 2.7 percent after Wall Street stocks opened higher, deflecting interest from the safe-haven metal.

Profit-taking plus a renewed appetite for risk chipped away at gold's early gains Monday, sending the yellow metal slightly into negative territory.

Fortuna Silver Mines Inc., which is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange, has applied for a listing on the New York Stock Exchange, the Vancouver-based company said Monday.

Gold rose 1.4 percent Monday in early U.S. trading as investors inclined toward the view that the decision of the top U.S. central banker to extend by a day a key September meeting might indicate an intent to intervene in the bond market, an action that is bullish for gold.

Recent strikes in Indonesia by gold miners, pilots and supermarket staff over pay signal that workers have started to push for a greater share of profits in a booming economy that has drawn foreign investors partly for its low labor costs.

DRDGold , South Africa's fourth largest gold producer, said on Monday its headline earnings more than doubled as it lifted output during a period when the gold price steadily advanced.

Canadian gold miner Northgate Minerals said it agreed to be bought by peer AuRico Gold for C$1.46 billion ($1.48 billion), and ended a deal with Primero Mining .

Record gold prices, rather than denting China's enthusiasm for bullion, have emboldened investors to plough more money into gold bars and riskier bullion-based derivatives.

Gold prices eased a touch in holiday-thinned trade on Monday as investors took bets on higher prices off the table, disappointed by a lack of clear guidance from the Federal Reserve on Friday on the options for U.S. economic stimulus.

Record gold prices, rather than denting China's enthusiasm for bullion, have emboldened investors to plough more money into gold bars and riskier bullion-based derivatives.

Record gold prices, rather than denting China's enthusiasm for bullion, have emboldened investors to plough more money into gold bars and riskier bullion-based derivatives.

A drive to benefit from record bullion prices lifted Australian gold production by 10 percent, or 24 metric tons, to 270 metric tons in the 2010/11 financial year, maintaining Australia's No. 2 ranking behind China, a sector survey released on Sunday showed.

World stocks rose 1 percent and the dollar fell on Friday as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke left the door open for future U.S. economic stimulus.

Gold rose Friday nearly 2 percent after the head of the U.S. central bank, in a closely analyzed speech, declined to signal more money printing as a way energize the moribund U.S. economy.

The CME Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange has contingency plans to open normally Monday, despite the potential for havoc from Hurricane Irene.

Shares of major gold mining companies fell Friday in midday trading, after the head of the U.S. central bank used a closely-watched speech to indicate that the Federal Reserve had no immediate plans to stimulate the lagging economy with another round of bond buying.

Stocks rose Friday after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke used a closely-followed speech to express optimism about the U.S. economic recovery but offer no hint that the central bank would intervene, as it did after his last such talk.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech Friday at a closely watched meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyo.,

Gold and silver rose Friday in electronic trading as investors returned to the precious metals on concerns over soverign debt worries on both sides of the Atlantic, weakness in the banking sector and sluggish growth in the U.S. and Europe.

Tiffany & Co., the iconic jewelry store chain, said Friday net earnings for the three months ended in July jumped 33 percent as stronger global sales offset higher expenses and the company raised its full-year outlook.

Workers at Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold's Grasberg mine in Indonesia plan to stage a strike in coming days after talks with the company failed to resolve a pay dispute , a move that could tighten global copper supplies and lift prices.

This year's heady bout of risk aversion on financial markets has ratcheted up demand for gold, U.S. Treasuries and the Swiss franc to levels that suggest they may no longer be the safe havens they are billed as.

Russia's central bank will offer gold-backed loans for up to 90 days at an interest rate of 7 percent, it said in a statement on Friday, expanding its lending facilities for dealing with any future liquidity crunch in the banking system.

Gold prices arrested this week's slide on Friday to rise nearly 1 percent ahead of a speech from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, later, which will be closely watched for hints on the outlook for Fed monetary policy.