STOCK MARKETS — Golds rebound as TSE continues at record clip — Spot gold price returns to low US$320s; TSE 300 hits 6755

The feverish activity of North America’s markets continued unabated during the report period ended July 22, with the week being punctuated by U.S.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan ruling out any immediate hikes in interest rates. Following the continental trend, the Toronto Stock Exchange kept up its record-setting pace, with the TSE 300 composite index ending the report period at 6714.25 — a gain of 58.32 points, or 0.9%, over its level on July 15.

The Canadian dollar was down slightly against the U.S. dollar, closing at 72.37 cents on July 22. As well, the Loony was off marginally against most European currencies and the yen.

On the morning of July 23, gold was up US$4.85 for a London fixing price of US$324.35 per oz. Silver dropped 2 cents to US$4.30 per oz., while platinum rose US$8.25 to US$415.50 per oz.

Gold producers rebounded slightly from the previous weeks of declines, with Barrick Gold rising $1.50 to close at $30.70; TVX Gold up 60 cents to $6.45; Kinross Gold gaining 85 cents to $6.50; and Teck closing at $28.00, up $1.65 from last week. The TSE’s gold and precious metals index rose 484.97 from last week to reach 8146.61.

With both Crystallex and Placer Dome claiming victory following the Venezuelan Supreme Court’s rulings concerning the disputed Las Cristinas project, it was left to the markets to judge which company came out on top: Placer Dome rose $2.05 to $22.50, whereas Crystallex, the week’s volume leader, knocked $1.75 off its share price to close at $6.25.

Euro-Nevada Mining regained the ground it lost earlier this month, rising $5.90 to $42.70. Sister company Franco-Nevada Mining tagged along for the ride, rising $2.40 to $62.35.

The base metals markets were mixed for a second week. Copper shed 4 cents to fall to US$1.07 per lb., while zinc continued strongly, rising 4 cents to US71 cents per lb. Aluminum rose to US$1,579 per tonne, with lead and nickel spot prices remaining essentially unchanged.

Among the base metal producers, nickel giant Inco declined 65 cents to $40.60, while Falconbridge rose $1.25 to $27.50. Noranda fell $1.05 to $28.45, as did Rio Algom, losing $1.45 to close at $33.30.

Breakwater Resources was up $1.15 to $6.25 on news of two new zinc acquisitions: the Tunisian Bougrine zinc-lead mine, (formerly 48%-Owned by Inmet, which dropped 70 cents to $7.10), and the Chilean Toqui zinc-gold mine bought from Barrick.

Several juniors had a good week, including Prime Resources Group which rose 90 cents to $11.05. The Vancouver-based company has launched an aggressive exploration campaign in the Eskay Creek camp in northern British Columbia.

Montreal-listed Mimiska Mines posted a 71% gain for the week, closing at 12 cents. The company holds gold exploration properties near Atikokan, Ont., and in central Nevada.

MacMillan Gold rose 18 cents to 48 cents. The company retains gold and copper projects in Peru and Guyana after having recently agreed to sell off its Mishi gold project in Ontario.

VenCan Gold gained 37 cents to close at $1.10. The firm partly owns the Edwards mine near Wawa, Ont., and has a silver-gold exploration concession in Honduras.

Platinova A/S, which is involved in a wide variety of resource projects in Greenland, rose from $1.15 to $1.70 during the report period.

The week’s biggest loser, percentage-wise, was Laguna Gold, which dropped to 16 cents from 35 cents, or about 54%. The Denver-based company has gold and silver prospects in Costa Rica.

Golden Rule Resources, which dropped $1.05 to close at $1.15, continued to be hammered for its admittedly “unreliable” trenching and soil-sampling work at the Stenpad gold project, which it shares with Hixon Gold Resources in Ghana.