Gold mining stocks have not been kind in the first week of a new Shares Race featuring some fresh faces.
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Gold miners tend to follow the price of gold, which has been a good bet this year as the markets have tended towards so-called safer, or less volatile assets such as gold. There's something quite comforting about a solid gold bullion.
But this week has not been a great week for the precious metal, as many of our tipsters have discovered. None more so than Money reader Mendy Amzalak, whose mining-focused portfolio includes Sovereign Gold, one of the worst performers of the week, shedding 20 per cent.
Gold miners feature heavily among the worst performing stocks of the week. Joining Sovereign Gold at the bottom of the table are Evolution Mining, Northern Star Resources and Kidman Resources, hitting the portfolios of Money reader Joan Ponsford, Under the Radar's Richard Hemming and Chartist Richard Pritchard.
But Amzalak can take heart he is not the holder of the worst performing stock: that dubious title goes to Pritchard, whose investment in graphite miner Graphex has turned $10,000 into just $7731.
In a week in which the All Ordinaries added 2.5 per cent, profits were frustratingly difficult to come by. It turns out the best bet was in the top end of town.
Ponsford, while suffering a blow from Evolution Mining, more than made up for the loss with punts on BHP Billiton, Fortescue Metals Group, Blackmores and Wesfarmers. Indeed, while junior miners lagged, the big end of town prospered. Fortescue was the week's best performing stock, turning $10,000 into $11,171, followed by mining engineering group Monadelphous and BHP.
Ponsford may be in the lead, but she is closely followed by Kalkine head of research Hina Chowdhary who posted some gains with food and agricultural picks Australian Agricultural Company and Bellamy's Organic. Just $221 separate the two with Money editor Caitlin Fitzsimmons not far behind. All three have positioned themselves nicely for the race, sitting in the black, ahead of Money reader Shane Holstein who'd hope his diverse stock picks will drag him back into the black next week.
The Shares Race is a fantasy shares game. Contestants start with $100,000 divided evenly between 10 stocks of their choice.