Gold saw a small rise today as European stock markets slid amid further concerns about debt in the Eurozone. Labour Day in the US meant that there were no signals from US stock markets to help bolster their European counterparts. Having begun the day at around US$1,875 an ounce spot gold managed to get as high as US$1,902.20 per ounce in late morning trading before falling back below US$1,890 at lunchtime. By 4pm UK time the yellow metal was knocking on the door of US$1,900 again, being some 1.2 per cent higher than it started the day at US$1,896 an ounce. As far as gold shares were concerned the standout performer was Alternative Investment Market-quoted firm Noricum Gold (LON:NMG), which was up 30.6 per cent at 3.92 pence in late afternoon trading after it reported positive exploration results from its Austrian gold projects, while fellow AIM miners Solomon Gold (LON:SOLG) and Condor Resources (LON:CNR) enjoyed gains of 8.8 per cent and 4.1 per cent respectively to see their share prices reach 17.55 pence and 7.025 pence respectively. Condor issued drill results from its La India project in Nicaragua that it reported as “encouraging”. Among larger market cap gold miners, Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) saw a modest gain in its shares of 0.75 per cent to 6,720 pence while European Goldfields (LON:EGU) was up one per cent at 745 pence. Back among the small caps, Cluff Gold (LON:CLF) saw a small rise of 1.6 per cent to 97.3 pence after it reported an upgrade to its resource at Baomahun in Sierra Leone.

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