Give gold miners exchange traded funds some credit. Bullion-backed ETFs, including the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD), have been solid though not spectacular performers over the past month.
GLD is up 2.3% over that period, but with Tuesday’s 3.8% gain, the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSEArca: GDXJ) is now up 13.4% over the past month. Not surprisingly, gold’s resurgence is coinciding with weakness in the U.S. dollar. ThePowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish Fund (NYSEArca: UUP), the U.S. Dollar Index tracking ETF, is down 2.2% over the past month.
The recent rally by the $1.7 billion GDXJ, the second-largest gold miners ETF, has helped the fund clear its 20- and 50-day moving averages, but investors have been caught as more than $62 million has been pulled from GDXJ this month.
Bullion and mining stocks slightly rebounded mid-March in response to lower-than-expected employment numbers, which raised the possibility that the Federal Reserve could hold off on tightening monetary policy. [A Rally for Miners ETFs]
A new player is joining GDXJ on the upside. The Sprott Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSEArca: SGDJ), which debuted at the end of March, has gained nearly 13% since coming to market. Investors have already allocated over $10 million to the new ETF.
The new ETF tracks the Sprott Zacks Junior Gold Miners Index (NYSE:ZAXSGDJ) and is the first factor-based junior miners ETFs. [A New Junior Miners ETF]