STOCK MARKETS — Golds and base metals occupy bright spot

Gold and base-metal issues rose last week, bucking the overall downward trend on the Toronto Stock Exchange. For the period April 3-9, the TSE 300 composite index fell fractionally, losing 17.46 points to close April 9 at 5,007.29.

The Toronto market escaped the interest-rate worries that hit the U.S. exchanges last week, as the Canadian dollar continued to rise against most foreign currencies. The Loony fell slightly against the U.S. dollar, closing at US73.60 cents on April 9. The currency has held up well in international markets, leaving the Bank of Canada with little need to intervene and reset the bank rate, which is now at 5.25%.

In London, the prices of gold and platinum recovered a little after last week’s slide. Gold was fixed at US$394.55 per oz. on the morning of April 10, up 75 cents from the previous week. Platinum also rose 75 cents, to US$406 per oz. Silver continued to lose ground, posting a 5 cents loss to reach US$5.46 per oz.

The TSE gold and precious metals sub-index saw a healthy 168.39-point gain, to close at 12,541.67 on April 9 — even though TVX Gold, the most active trader on the sub-index, fell 12 cents to $11.88.

Other actively traded golds included: Kinross Gold, unchanged at $11.25; Barrick Gold, up 88 cents to $42.25; Placer Dome, up $1 to $39.38; and Echo Bay Mines, up 50 cents to $18.88.

Some golds didn’t follow the pack: Caledonia Mining was down $1 to $6.12; Euro-Nevada fell 50 cents to $48; Franco-Nevada was off $1.75 to $81.50; and Goldcorp lost 38 cents to close at $26.12.

Base metals experienced mixed results on the London Metals Exchange, with nickel down 4 cents to US$3.60 per lb.; copper was unchanged; zinc added 1 cents for a price of US48 cents; and lead picked up 2 cents to reach US38 cents.

The metals and minerals sub-index was modestly higher, picking up 38.43 points to close April 9 at 5,341.88. Diamond Fields Resources was off $1.25 to close April 9 at $39.25, having accepted Inco’s takeover bid. The latter lost 12 cents to finish the trading period at $42.88.

Falconbridge officially announced it had withdrawn its bid for Diamond Fields and was up 38 cents to $28.38. Falco’s parent, Noranda, which announced the completion of its takeover bids for Brenda Mines and Kerr Addison Mines, was also 38 cents higher; it closed at $29.

Among other base metal miners, Cameco lost 25 cents for a closing price of $70.75 and Cominco fell 50 cents to $31.12. Rio Algom saw a 25 cents gain in active trading and closed at $25.63.

Diadem Resources traded heavily on the Montreal Exchange, in the wake of news that it had found diamond shards in samples from its California property. The stock rose $2.12 to close at $5.25. NAR Resources, also on Montreal, tacked on 64 cents to finish the trading period at $1.85.

Bresea Resources was down 62 cents, though Alberta-listed Bre-X Minerals was up $3.50. Bresea, which owns 23% of Bre-X, closed at $15 with 1.5 million shares changing hands.

On the Toronto junior market, Misty Mountain Gold was off $1.62 to close at $6.25, regardless of the reporting of further results from its gold project in the Queen Charlotte Islands. Princeton Mining, which got a green light for its Huckleberry project in British Columbia, was the most actively traded TSE junior, adding 8 cents and ending the week at 60 cents.

Loki Gold, set to merge with Baja Gold and Viceroy Resources, was unchanged at $3.60 in heavy trading related to the merger. Viceroy was off 62 cents to close at $8.38 and Baja was unchanged at $2.40.

Pure Gold Resources was heavily traded and rose 3 cents to 20 cents following news of a kimberlite find by Ashton Mining on one of its properties in the Northwest Territories. Ashton was up 4 cents to $1.07.