STOCK MARKETS — Golds lead TSE as base metals rise

A rally by the golds enabled the Toronto Stock Exchange to improve over the period ended May 7. Nonetheless, the TSE 300 composite finished at another record high of 5,167.07 after having dipped slightly a few days earlier. The market gained 20.6 points (or 0.4%) over the period.

The Canadian dollar lost a quarter of a cent to its American counterpart over the week and closed at US73.18 cents. Both dollars lost ground to the major European currencies and, to a lesser extent, the Japanese yen, which has weakened somewhat.

Precious metals markets enjoyed a strong week, with the London gold fix jumping $3 on May 3 to $394 per oz. Gold finished the period at $393.65.

Platinum rose $5.75 to $406.25 per oz., and silver was up 15 cents to $5.48 per oz.

Lead and copper markets felt the effect of a supply crunch. The price of lead rose an impressive 9% on the London Metals Exchange over the last three days of the period, with almost half the increase coming on May 2. The spot price for the grey metal jumped 2 cents per lb. to 39 cents, while the spot price for the red climbed 8 cents per lb. to $1.29.

The week saw a 4.4% jump in the TSE gold and precious metals sub-index, from 12,348 on April 30 to 12,914 on May 7. Barrick Gold led the way in value traded, up $1.50 to $43.25, followed by Placer Dome, which was up $2 to close at $39.88. The most actively traded gold stock was TVX Gold, which added $2 to close at $12.75 after 10.1 million shares changed hands.

Heavy trading in Black Swan Gold Mines saw the stock price climb 2 cents to 71 cents, after a 2-week slide. The company is exploring the Cata Preta gold property in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state. Agnico-Eagle Mines had a good week as its share price rose $2.25, to $27.25, on the strength of impressive exploration results at the LaRonde mine in Quebec.

General interest in gold stocks was sufficient to boost Kinross Gold 50 cents to $12.75, despite a two-thirds drop in net income figures for the quarter.

Nearly 8.6 million Kinross shares were traded over the period.

William Resources, which recently completed the takeover of Australian gold company Velardena Minerals, traded to the tune of 6.7 million shares. It rose just 2 cents to $1.77.

The TSE Mines and Metals sub-index was up 79.5 (or 1.4%) to 5,493.1, led by Inco, which was up $1 to $47. Diamond Fields Resources gained 75 cents to end the period at $42.63, while Cameco dropped $1 to $71.88.

Bre-X Minerals hit a record high of $217 during the week, but fell back to close at $199, down 88 cents over the period. Its Montreal-listed affiliate, Bresea Resources, hit $17.50 (also a record high) before dropping 13 cents to finish at $15.13. The company announced May 6 that it had placed 2 million common shares at $14.70 per share with foreign investors.

Montreal-listed Vauquelin Mines saw its price more than double, vaulting to $3.20 from $1.50. The company recently underwent a re-organization and change of management. The new management arranged a $1.5-million private placement and also acquired 2 million shares of West Africa Mining, a Montreal-listed company that recently released strong assay results from its Anwia gold property in Ghana. West Africa Mining shares rose $1.13 to $11.

The price of Greater Lenora Resources was hit hard when the company downgraded reserve figures at its Goldfields gold project in Saskatchewan.

The share price dropped $1.07 to 78 cents.

Normabec Mining Resources rose 68 cents to $1.80, after signing a joint-venture agreement on an Argentine gold property.

The start of production at Dayton Mining’s Andacollo mine in Chile coincided with high trading volume, but Dayton shares rose only 50 cents to $9.88.

Lytton Minerals, which is exploring for diamonds in the Northwest Territories, dropped 27 cents to $3.70, with 4.8 million shares changing hands.