As gold once again breaks the psychologically important barrier of $1,000 an ounce, all the pundits are wondering if it will last.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX), the world’s largest pure-play gold miner, is about to make a very big bet on gold prices going higher. The company announced this week it will raise as much as $4 billion in a stock issuance and use the proceeds to pay off its gold hedges. In other words, Barrick is willing to give their shareholders the short-term shaft in order to rid themselves of all bets against gold.

It was a rather uneventful session during Wednesday trading on the Canadian Markets with the fluctuating price of commodities effecting individual sectors. For the tale of the tape; the TSX Exchange gave back 0.64%, while the TSX Gold Index fell 0.79% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, added 0.79% with the advancers beating out the decliners by a 395 to 354 margin on 152 million shares traded.

Gold was basically comatose all through Far East and European trading…with what activity there was, beginning [as is mostly the case] once floor trading began on the Comex in New York. Volume was decent in both metals, and both gold and silver’s attempts to go vertical shortly before the London close got firmly stopped in their tracks. The usual New York gold commentator noted that a very large 80,482 gold contracts had traded by 11:00 a.m….with a total of 110,979 for the entire day.

Weaker than expected first quarter growth out of the United States failed to damper the mood during Wednesday trading on the Canadian Markets. For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange rallied 0.73%, while the TSX Gold Index tacked on 0.4% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, surged 2.10% with the advancers beating out the decliners by a 486 to 316 margin on good volumes of 205 million shares traded.

Gold had a lackluster but still positive day, rarely straying out of the $895-900 range all the way from Hong Kong through the Globex, and finishing at $898.30/oz., up $5.00. Overnight, gold has fallen off.

Gold traded sideways in the Far East then displayed a nice upward trend through London and New York to finish at $959.00/oz up $17.50. Overnight, gold has moved higher.

While gold had a big run-up in price during the three-month stretch that ended in late February, the yellow metal has subsequently dropped back a bit, as have the prices of the leading mining shares. If anything, however, the reasons for gold bullishness have intensified.

Not much happened in gold on Tuesday. The top was in around 10:00 a.m. in London trading…just like Monday. From there it got sold off a bit…and the boyz in New York finished the job. Volume in gold yesterday was light…81,377 contracts less a switch effect of 4,870.

Gold tacked on about five bucks in early Far East trading before moving sideways through most of European trading. A small sell-off, starting just before the Comex open, ended with a bang at exactly 9:00 a.m. New York time. Within an hour, gold was up over $20 before a not-for-profit seller put an end to the festivities. The graph then took its usual turn to the right…and that was it for the rest of the trading day. Total estimated volume was 128,629 contracts, with a switch effect of 9,634.