A Strong Day for the Junior Miners ETF
Wednesday’s trading session is a long way from being over, but noteworthy is the strength being shown by beaten up gold miners exchange traded funds, namely the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ) .
GDXJ, the second-largest gold miners ETF behind its stablemate, the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) , is up 5.1% at this writing, making the junior miners fund Wednesday’ top-performing non-leveraged ETF. [Obscure Ratio Could Signal Upside for Miners ETFs]
Making Wednesday’s bullishness in gold miners ETFs all the more impressive is that the strength comes in the face of another up day for the U.S. dollar. The PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish Fund (UUP) is modestly higher on the day and trading at levels not seen since September 2010.
“ The resistance trendline, extended out on the GDXJ, ETF for the junior gold miners (seen below on the daily chart, top light blue line) is providing support to price this morning. Note how this is happening even as the U.S. Dollar gaps higher on the UUP ETF, though it is off the highs of the session. In technical analysis, oftentimes extending out that trendline is worthwhile to see if price remains sensitive to it,” according to MarketChess.com. “I am still impressed by the improved morale of gold bugs to step in each time the miners see sharp, one-day shakeouts where bears become boastful of the seemingly inevitable crash coming.”
The popular Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bull 3x Shares (JNUG) is up 14% today, though that ETF is still down 24.4% since Nov. 26, the day after Direxion announced it is reverse splitting JNUG on a 1-for-10 basis. That reverse split will be effective at the open of U.S. markets on Dec. 23. [Finally a JNUG Reverse Split]
One day does not make a trend and with the obvious trends being bullish for the dollar and bearish for gold, mining companies are being forced to deal with what could be an extended environment of lower bullion prices.
“Many junior gold companies are coping with low gold prices by re-engineering projects to reduce capital requirements. A lower cost alternative is heap leaching, where ore is stacked on impermeable liners in «heaps». A drip system is applied to dissolve the gold from the rock in a closed circuit that recirculates the spent solution. No milling and fewer moving parts are required, so the capital cost is much less than other methods of extraction. This has enabled junior developers in Nevada, Mexico, Peru, Burkina Faso, and elsewhere to move forward with economically viable projects,” said Van Eck Global Senior Gold Strategist Joe Foster in a note out Wednesday.
And has been par for the course during gold’s tumble, investors are sticking by miners ETFs while departing physically-backed funds. Since the start of November, investors have pulled nearly $950 million from the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) , but GDX and GDXJ have seen combined inflows of over $92 million.
Chart Courtesy: ChessnWine, MarketChess.com
