It has been yet another positive day of trade for the shareholders of Australia's gold miners.
In fact, at the time of writing the three best-performers on the S&P/ASX 200 index are all gold miners.
The Saracen Mineral Holdings Limited (ASX: SAR) share price is leading the way with a gain of over 9% to a 52-week high of $3.97, but St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM) and Resolute Mining Limited (ASX: RSG) shares aren't far behind with gains of 7% and 5%, respectively.
But they aren't the only gold miners charging higher. Also hitting 52-week highs today have been Australia's two largest players – Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST).
Earlier today the Newcrest share price rose to a 52-week high of $32.65 and the Northern Star share price reached a 52-week high of $11.92.
This strong form has led to the S&P/ASX All Ords Gold index pushing an impressive 2.3% higher on Tuesday.
Why are the gold miners on fire?
Investors have been fighting to get hold of the gold miners after the spot gold price charged higher overnight and then continued its push during Asian trade.
At the time of writing the spot gold price is up 1.5% to a multi-year high of US$1,441 an ounce. This means the precious metal has now risen almost 11% since the start of the year.
The catalyst for this latest push has been rising tensions between the United States and Iran, the prospect of the U.S. Federal Reserve cutting rates in the near term, and U.S. dollar weakness.
What now?
Whilst I think that a lot of these gold miners look fully valued now, if the gold price continues to increase then they could yet climb even higher.
Incidentally, one broker that thinks the St Barbara share price can still go a lot higher, even if the gold price doesn't, is Goldman Sachs. It recently retained its buy rating and $3.60 price target on the gold miner's shares.
