Summer doldrums appear to be ending for TSX-Venture junior miners. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index closed at 1524.79, up 17.5 points over the trading period Aug. 25-31. Daily volumes have also seen awakenings, with well over 20 million shares a day changing hands. The market is showing signs of life heading into the Labour Day session, traditionally a more active period on the boards.
Gold had a strong week, closing out the trading period up six and a half bucks at US$409.50 on the New York spot market. Gold futures also rallied, closing at US$412.40 for December delivery. The yellow metal’s strength is attributable to market disappointment in weak U.S. economic data. Consumer confidence was eroded by slower job growth; the flight to bullion is also being fueled by a weakening U.S. greenback and concerns over recent terrorist bombings in Russia and Israel, and by an increase in perceived threats worldwide.
Silver followed gold’s path, closing out the trading period and the month at US$6.75 per oz., up a dime from the previous week. Platinum gained just over 1%, closing at US$866 per oz., with palladium shedding US$5 per oz. to finish at US$212.
Copper gained a couple of pennies to close at US$1.295 per lb., whereas nickel softened over the week, shedding 40 to close at US$5.76 per lb.
Decliners continued to outweigh the gainers on the junior mining board. Thirteen Venture Exchange-listed juniors saw new yearly highs for the trading period, compared with 74 companies setting new 52-week lows.
Fueled by investor excitement and speculation,
The second most active issue,
Bronze in the most actives went to prospective diamond miner
Fourth on the volume charts,
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