Miners Hochschild and Fresnillo lead FTSE falls as gold pullback deepens Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock

Hochschild Mining PLC (LSE:HOC) and Fresnillo PLC (LSE:FRES) led London's mining sector lower on Thursday as falling gold and silver prices hit precious metals producers.

Hochschild fell 1.8%, Endeavour Mining PLC (LSE:EDV) lost 1.8%, Pan African Resources PLC (LSE:PAF) shed 1.5% and Fresnillo dropped 1.3% in early trading.

The declines came as gold slipped 0.6% to $3,975 an ounce, falling below the $4,000 mark for the first time since November, while silver fell 1.2% to $56.70 an ounce, having yesterday broken below $60 for the first time since December.

The weakness was concentrated among precious metals miners. More diversified groups were mixed, with Glencore PLC (LSE:GLEN) down 0.3%, Rio Tinto Ltd (LSE:RIO) little changed, Anglo American PLC (LSE:AAL) up 0.6% and Antofagasta PLC (LSE:ANTO) gaining 1%, helped by copper prices. Comex copper was up 0.6% to $5.9796 a pound.

Bullion has come under pressure as the US dollar strengthened to its highest level in more than a year as investors continued to price in interest rates remaining higher for longer. Higher rates raise the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as gold.

Patrick Munnelly, market analyst at Tickmill, said: "Gold is stabilising around $4,000/oz after briefly falling below that level for the first time since November. A stronger Dollar and higher-for-longer rate expectations have weighed on the metal, while the easing of Middle East risks has reduced safe-haven demand.

"The fact that gold is only stabilising, rather than rebounding strongly, suggests that the market is less concerned about geopolitical tail risk and more focused on real yields and the Dollar."

Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG, said the gold price was seeing its "largest pullback for four years".

"The parabolic move of late 2024, through 2025 and on into 2026 has firmly come unstuck. The bigger the party, the bigger the hangover, and gold is still working off its own exuberance… As the dollar keeps strengthening, there is more pain to come for gold."