Shares of Precious Metals Miners Decline

Shares of companies that mine precious metals drifted lower Friday along with the broader equity market and the price of gold.

In late morning trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.43 percent to 12,362.80, the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.11 percent to 2,666.98 and the S&P 500 declined 0.33 percent to 1,276.88.

The most actively traded gold contract on the Comex was down $3.30 to $1,617, and the most actively traded silver contract on the Comex fell 42 cents to $28.86.

Barrick Gold Corp. fell 0.92 percent, Goldcorp Inc. was down 1.9 percent and Newmont Mining Corp. declined 0.7 percent.

Among silver miners, Tahoe Resources Inc. fell 0.95 percent, Pan American Silver Corp. was off 0.04 percent and Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp. declined 0.31 percent.

Exchange-traded funds backed by precious metals assets also fell. The SPDR Gold Trust was down 0.57 percent and the iShares Silver Trust fell 2.35 percent.