Trading Summary (April 17, 2003)

A mixed day for world markets on Thursday still came out well for the Toronto Stock Exchange. The TSX Composite index closed at 6,525.68, up 44.24 points from the previous session, with all the market sectors in the black.

The TSX Metals and Mining index outpaced the broader market, posting a gain of 2.21 points (1.9% of value) to close at 120.70 as most of the base metal index heavyweights made strong gains.

The heaviest of them all, Inco, shot up 76 to $28.49 for a gain of 2.7%. A volume of 1.5 million shares made it the most active of the mining-index stocks today. Inco released quarterly financial results after the close on Tuesday, showing net first-quarter earnings of US$30 million on revenues of US$593 million, up from earnings of US$11 million on revenues of US$506 million in the first quarter of 2002.

Falconbridge also moved higher, adding 31 to close at $16.01. The nickel-copper-zinc producer reported earnings of $60.5 million, or 32 per share, for the first quarter, out of $719 million in revenues. Comparable figures in the first three months of 2002 were $22.7 million in earnings on $525 million in revenues.

Cameco was the day’s big gainer, adding $1.17 to close at $34.15. The uranium producer said flooding at its MacArthur River mine in northern Saskatchewan was beginning to ease as pumping capacity began to exceed inflow.

Unlike the base metals, the golds lagged behind most of the market, only picking up 0.85 points, or 0.5% of value, and closing at 159.08.

The profit-takers outnumbered the bargain-hunters around Gabriel Resources, which had bounced back over the previous two days from a big selloff on Monday. Gabriel, which is developing the Rosia Montana gold project in Romania, was down 16 to $2.50, a loss of 6% on the day.

Other than that there were few decliners, but Barrick Gold was one, falling 6 to $22.34. Mid-tier Goldcorp was the other, sliding back 8 to $15.59. Kinross Gold saw the heaviest trading, with 1.5 million shares moving; it was up 16 at $9.15.

There was still a little excitement among the juniors. South American Gold and Copper was unchanged at 7 on a volume of 2 million shares, and Tahera, unchanged at 13.5, traded just under 2 million shares.

Canada’s junior exchange managed to end a week-long losing streak as investors once again started to nibble on gold-related issues. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index surged 9.57 points, or 0.92% and closed at 1,046.17.

Shares in Spider Resources tacked on a penny following news that the final results from hole 2 on the Spider #3 base metal project in Ontario yielded 0.53 % copper over 12.3 metres in the semi-massive sulphide zone and the massive sulphide zinc section came back 5.45% zinc over 5.35 metres. Spider ended the week at 14 on just over 1.2 million shares traded.

Forest Gate Resources added 1 to close at 11 on 865,000 shares. The junior recently launched an airbourne magnetic survey over its East Side diamond property in Saskatchewan. The project lies 2-km west of the 140-141 kimberlite pipe currently being bulk sampled by De Beers.

Canico lost 7 to close at $6.33 on 261,600 shares traded. The junior has been steadily reporting good drill results from the Unca-Puma nickel laterite property in Brazil.