MARKET REPORT: Gold miners glisten as bullion hits document excessive

Gold miners soared as the price of the precious metal hit an all-time high.

Fresnillo rose 5.7 per cent, or 30.5p, to 572.5p, Centamin climbed 1.3 per cent, or 2p, to 156p and Hochschild Mining added 4 per cent, or 7p, to 182.4p.

The rally came as a weaker dollar and growing hopes over interest rate cuts in the US next week sent the price of gold above $2,560 an ounce. It means the precious metal’s value has risen by nearly a quarter this year.

Endeavour Mining, which also benefited from the rally, revealed commercial production began at two mines in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire. Shares gained 10.5 per cent, or 175p, to 1836p.

Record high: A weaker dollar and growing hopes over interest rate cuts in the US next week sent the price of gold above $2,560 an ounce

There was also interest in crypto-currencies. The price of bitcoin will hit a record high no matter who wins the US election, an analyst has predicted. 

Standard Chartered’s Geoffrey Kendrick believes the digital coin will reach $125,000 if former president Donald Trump is re-elected in November. 

And a win for his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, will send the price of bitcoin to $75,000. It is trading above $58,000 after peaking at more than $73,000 in March.

Kendrick added that progress on relaxing regulations on banks’

digital asset holdings is likely to continue next year regardless of who ends up in the White House.

The FTSE 100 rose 0.4 per cent, or 32.12 points, to 8273.09 and the FTSE 250 added 1pc, or 199.6 points, to 20895.37. 

A broker downgrade hit AstraZeneca. The pharma giant, which last month became the first ever British company to reach a £200billion valuation, sank after Deutsche Bank Research advised clients to sell their shares.

Stock Watch – Volvere 

Volvere reported a strong first-half for its main investment.

The investment group, which focuses on food manufacturing, said sales at Shire Foods rose 16 per cent to a record £22.2million in the six months to June 30.

The Leamington Spa-based pie maker also saw profits jump from £440,000 to £2.17million.

Volvere owns 80 per cent of Shire, which has been trading for more than 40 years. 

Shares rose 6.4 per cent, or 90p, to 1500p.

Analysts said they have accepted the reality that the Dato-DXd treatment ‘was not going to be the next breakthrough in lung cancer we had hoped last summer’.

This week AstraZeneca revealed its experimental precision drug did little to improve overall survival among lung cancer patients.

The group also faced a recent setback in China after a handful of staff were arrested over potential privacy law breaches and distributing a liver cancer drug yet to be approved. 

Shares fell 1 per cent, or 122p, to 11928p, taking losses to beyond 10 per cent in less than two weeks.

Rival GSK issued its fourth drug-related update this week. The group said the health authority in China will fast-track the development of its treatment for a common blood cancer that is considered treatable but not curable.

Clinical trial results showed Blenrep combined with another drug improved progression-free survival rates for patients with multiple myeloma. Shares dipped 0.3 per cent, or 5p, to 1633.5p.

Unilever is buying up to £675million worth of shares from investors between now and mid-December.

The consumer goods group, which owns brands including Lynx, Magnum and Dove, bought more than 13m shares worth £591million between May and August. The stock rose 0.3 per cent, or 13p, to 4939p.

Trainline extended its gains a day after revealing business had been boosted by fewer train strikes and more customers switching to digital tickets. Shares added 0.4 per cent, or 1.2p, to 329p.