U.S. Markets March 28-April 3

Big base metal producers and the mid-tier golds were the stars of the U.S. markets in the period March 28-April 3. The broader market was slightly weaker, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index off 0.3% at 1,297.81 points.

There were new highs all through the base metals sector, including the Big Three: Anglo American rose US$1.04 to US$20.00, hitting US$20.26 on the way, Rio Tinto was up US$12.55 at US$212, with a new high of US$215.79, and BHP Billiton was US$3.84 higher at US$41.73, touching US$42.20 on the way. Phelps Dodge also reached a 52-week high during the period, rising US$7.12 to US$83.73 after trading as high as US$85.15.

BHP helped itself along with an A$2.25-billion share buyback, taking in 96 million shares at A$23.45 each. The price was a 14% discount to the market but was oversubscribed anyway; shareholders that tendered to the buyback will have 36.5% of their tender, plus 200 shares, taken up.

On the precious metal side, the spotlight was on some of the smaller miners and on the white-goods producers. Among the golds, Randgold Resources was up US$1.75 at US$18.96, U.S. Gold rose US$3.23 to US$10.02 and Lihir Gold jumped US$4.85 to US$38.66. All touched 52-week highs, as did Hecla Mining, but Hecla finished US6 lower at US$6.37.

Silver prices in the London bullion market were fixed at US$11.755 on March 31, settling back slightly on April 3, but still higher than at any time since 1983. Silver miner Coeur d’Alene Mines was down US19 at US$6.37 but not before reaching a new high of US$6.98 in the euphoria. Stillwater Mining, producer of the other white metals, also traded at a 52-week high of US$17.46, finishing at US$16.96 for a gain of US88.

The big sharks of gold weren’t as big winners as the pilot fish. Newmont Mining added US61 to close at US$51.13, while AngloGold Ashanti rose US63 to US$53.92 and Gold Fields was up US$1.52 to US$22.55.

Most of the coal producers were strong as well. Peabody Energy was up US$1.86 to US$51.48, with a 52-week high of US$52.83, Massey Energy rose US45 to US$36.31, and CONSOL Energy was US$5.32 better at US$77.08.

U.S. greatest percentage change

		Volume(000s)	High	Low	Close	Change
Cream Mnrls*	CRMXF	95	0.74	0.333	0.74	+89.7
Coral Gold*	CGREF	286	5.959	3.50	5.37	+48.9
US Gold*	USGL	2558	10.30	6.77	10.02	+47.5
Shoshone Silv*	SHSH	416	0.39	0.22	0.36	+46.9
Queenstake Rs*	QEE	13699	0.45	0.28	0.39	+34.4
Glencairn Gld*	GLE	603	0.57	0.43	0.57	+32.5
Golden Phoen*	GPXM	8606	0.545	0.37	0.51	+30.7
CanAlaska Ven*	CVVLF	1435	0.75	0.46	0.63	+28.5
Apolo Gold*	APLL	1538	0.13	0.11	0.13	+26.2
Tara Gold*	TRGD	1735	0.295	0.25	0.29	+18.3
New Jersey Mg*	NJMC	554	0.75	0.45	0.45	-43.7
AuGrid*	AUGC	29330	0.002	0.001	0.002	-33.3
Grand Cen Sil*	GSLM	89	0.80	0.60	0.62	-17.3
Peru Copper*	CUP	2958	2.90	2.34	2.37	-16.2
Puda Coal*	PUDC	130	3.85	3.00	3.35	-12.9
Magnus Intl R*	MGNU	2919	3.93	3.13	3.18	-12.8
Golden Star*	GSS	6238	3.66	2.98	2.99	-12.5
Trend Mng*	TRDM	950	0.17	0.14	0.15	-11.7
Canyon Res*	CAU	523	0.97	0.85	0.85	-9.5
Uranium Res*	URIX	7716	1.97	1.42	1.74	-9.3

U.S. greatest value change

		volume	close	change
Rio Tinto*	RTP	1517300	212.00	+12.55
Potash C Sask*	POT	3509200	89.92	+7.70
Phelps Dodge*	PD	17417800	83.73	+7.12
Kerr McGee*	KMG	6367100	97.72	+6.243
CONSOL Energy*	CNX	5603400	77.08	+5.32
Freeport McMo*	FCX	16281900	61.48	+5.29
Lihir Gold*	LIHRY	286857	38.66	+4.85
ASA (Bermuda)*	ASA	292300	66.28	+4.63
Southern Peru*	PCU	4588300	85.60	+4.60
BHP Billi-BHP*	BHP	9980400	41.73	+3.84
Cleveland-Cli*	CLF	4542900	86.20	-6.80
Soc Quim&M Ch*	SQM	106800	112.40	-2.95
Pan Am Silver*	PAAS	8854163	25.00	-1.38
Mines Managem*	MGN	488300	8.42	-0.57
Minefinders*	MFN	339200	7.43	-0.54
Arch Coal*	ACI	6579800	75.70	-0.54
Puda Coal*	PUDC	130047	3.35	-0.50
Fording C C T*	FDG	1990900	37.70	-0.48
Magnus Intl R*	MGNU	2918623	3.18	-0.47
Peru Copper*	CUP	2957900	2.37	-0.46

U.S. most active issues

		Volume(000s)	High	Low	Close	Change
UNICO Inc*	UNCN	1341220	0.002	0.002	0.002	0.00
Goldspring*	GSPG	40957	0.019	0.014	0.015	+0.001
AuGrid*	AUGC	29330	0.002	0.001	0.002	-0.001
Silverado*	SLGLF	27287	0.153	0.125	0.148	+0.001
Coeur d Alene*	CDE	26756	6.98	6.32	6.37	-0.19
Newmont Mng*	NEM	25091	54.24	49.88	51.13	+0.61
DRDGOLD*	DROOY	20755	1.62	1.35	1.46	+0.02
Alcoa*	AA	18084	31.53	30.11	30.90	+0.57
Phelps Dodge*	PD	17418	85.15	73.99	83.73	+7.12
Barrick Gold*	ABX	16852	28.02	25.94	27.74	+1.20