Gold Prices Flatline as Gold Miners Surge on Dow Record (Update 1)

Updated from 1:27 p.m. ET with settlement prices and Jeff Gundlach presentation

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Gold prices finished unchanged on Wednesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average again rallied to record highs. Mining stocks surged on the upbeat day for equities.

Gold for April delivery settled flat at $1,574.90 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The gold price traded as high as $1,584.30 and as low as $1,566.40 an ounce, while the spot price was adding $7.90, according to Kitco's gold index.

Gold prices gained $2.50 an ounce on Tuesday on the heels of an incremental rise on Monday. Mining stocks, riding the consecutive record closing highs of the Dow, won the spotlight on Wednesday.

"The thing to look at today with gold is that you have a pretty big reversal in the miners," said Jared Dillian, editor of The Daily Dirtnap and a former Lehman Brothers trader. "The big story in gold hasn't been so much the physical over the last couple of weeks, it's actually been the miners -- [Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF] (GDX), the miner ETF, has been in a death spiral."

The miner ETF surged 4.2% on Wednesday, but has sold off heavily during the past six months. Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ) popped during the trading session by 4.8%.

Gold mining stocks were mostly higher, led by Royal Gold's (RGLD) 4.8% jump, and Agnico-Eagle Mines' (AEM) climb by 4.5%.

Kinross Gold (KGC) was the highest volume gainer as shares of the company added 4.2%.

Silver prices for May delivery rose 20 cents to close at $28.80 an ounce, while the U.S. dollar index was surging 0.51% to $82.50.

Gold prices ticked down to session lows Wednesday after the ADP jobs report revealed a decline in private payrolls to 198,000 in February from January's upwardly revised 215,000. Consensus among economists had been looking for a steeper fall to 170,000 new jobs.

Gold prices often have tracked the government's monthly employment situation and the ADP jobs report, because the Federal Reserve has tied its policy of low interest rates to the unemployment rate. The Fed has signaled that it may discontinue its low rates if unemployment dropped to 6.5% or inflation rose to 2.5%. Analysts have speculated this would also mean an end to the quantitative easing programs.

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