LONDON -- Gold ended last week a little lower, with gold for immediate delivery down 2.3% at $1,441 per ounce.
Of course, the only practical way for most private investors to invest in gold is through exchange-traded funds. The largest gold ETF, the $51 billion SPDR Gold Trust , ended the week 2% lower at $139.60, while London-listed Gold Bullion Securities fell 3.6% to end the week at $137.22. So far this year, shareholders of Gold Bullion Securities have seen the value of their holdings fall by 11%, while the value of SPDR Gold Trust shares has fallen by 14.5%.
Pan African Resources climbed 10.4% to 16.5 pence last week after updating investors on progress with the integration of Evander Gold Mines Limited, which Pan African acquired in February. Evander has doubled Pan African's gold output and the firm reported gold production for the quarter to 31 March 2013 of 51,473 ounces. Pan African is also planning further medium-term gold recovery projects from previously mined areas of Evander.
Petropavlovsk edged up 1.4% to 146.1 pence last week as investors continued a cautious return to the debt-laden Russian gold miner, whose share price is down by 58% this year despite record gold production. In its latest interim report, Petropavlovsk said that it was planning a "comprehensive cost-cutting program" to deal with the impact of lower gold prices, and would delay the development of its pressure oxidation hub at Malomir. Petropavlovsk has updated the markets with details of this program this morning, and is promising total cash savings of $160 million for 2013 and unchanged production for 2014, despite delaying the Malomir development.
Harmony Gold Mining Company gained 4.7% to $4.62 last week, despite reporting a quarterly loss of $0.47 per share, missing a Bloomberg consensus forecast of $0.53 per share. The firm said that it will cut capital expenditure and corporate costs by a total of $200 million this year, and, while its share price fell following the results, it recovered sharply on Friday to end the week higher.
The article 3 Gold Shares Rising Strongly: Pan African Resources, Petropavlovsk, and Harmony Gold Mining originally appeared on Fool.com.