U.S. Markets March 21-27

U.S. stock markets were jittery ahead of a meeting of the Federal Reserve Bank’s Open Market Committee, which was widely expected to announce a quarter-point increase in the central bank’s interest rate, but which was also expected to give some sign of the Fed’s future money policy. The big indices fell fractionally; over the reporting period March 21-27, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 3.47 points to 1,301.61, a loss of 0.26%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2%.

The greenback rose against both the euro and the yen during the period, but gold bounced higher, with the London afternoon fix on March 27 at US$567.50, up US$11.75 from a week before. That sent most of the U.S.-listed golds upward: Newmont Mining rose US$1.30 to US$50.52, Gold Fields was up US$1.27 to US$21.03 and Harmony Gold gained US$1.84, finishing the period at US$15.76.

AngloGold Ashanti was up US$3.69 at US$53.29 in the wake of an offering of its shares on the market. AngloGold will issue 10.3 million new shares and parent Anglo American will sell 17.6 million of its AngloGold shares, which will raise about US$500 million for AngloGold and about US$900 million for Anglo American. The sale would reduce Anglo’s stake in AngloGold to about 41% from the 51% it currently owns, a move that Anglo has been telegraphing to the market for about a year.

The surge in the gold price was good for the smaller producers. Hecla Mining showed the best form, jumping US$1.33 to US$6.43, while Randgold Resources was US92 higher at US$17.21 and Lihir Gold rose US90 to US$33.81.

Silver prices also took off, rising US47 to US$10.81 per oz., with most observers crediting the new exchange-traded silver fund for creating some new demand. Coeur d’Alene Mines rose US87 to US$6.56, while developer Apex Silver tacked on 96 to finish at US$24.06.

On the base metal side, the big producers mostly gained ground. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold rose US$3.56 to close at US$56.19, while Rio Tinto rose US$7.35 to finish at US$199.45.

U.S. greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Cusac Gold Mn*	CUSIF	1206	0.29	0.188	0.285	+50.0
New Jersey Mg*	NJMC	147	0.80	0.54	0.80	+48.1
Commerce Grp*	CGCO	33	0.20	0.14	0.20	+42.8
Rubicon Mnls*	RBY	381	1.50	1.06	1.50	+33.9
Northw Min Vt*	NWTMF	7565	1.09	0.72	1.07	+32.1
Global Gold*	GBGD	72	1.35	0.95	1.32	+30.6
El Capitan Pr*	ECPN	2701	2.55	1.70	2.21	+30.0
Entree Gold*	EGI	308	2.19	1.73	2.16	+27.0
Minera Andes*	MNEAF	3997	1.29	0.97	1.23	+26.1
Hecla Mining*	HL	9989	6.43	5.05	6.43	+26.0
AuGrid*	AUGC	32803	0.011	0.002	0.002	-50.0
Savoy Res*	SVYR	434	0.054	0.04	0.04	-23.0
Bay Res*	BYRE	40	0.55	0.35	0.45	-18.1
Goldspring*	GSPG	61074	0.017	0.014	0.014	-17.6
Starfield Res*	SRFDF	2075	0.538	0.41	0.465	-13.8
Grand Cen Sil*	GSLM	41	0.90	0.75	0.75	-11.7
Pine Valley M*	PVMCF	1155	1.605	1.30	1.30	-11.5
Cardero Res*	CDY	307	3.29	2.76	2.88	-10.2
Peru Copper*	CUP	1201	3.19	2.82	2.83	-9.5
CanAlaska Ven*	CVVLF	983	0.57	0.48	0.49	-9.2

U.S. greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Rio Tinto*	RTP	854000	199.45	+7.35
CONSOL Energy*	CNX	7654100	71.76	+7.18
Arch Coal*	ACI	6600400	76.24	+6.46
Royal Gold*	RGLD	3973874	34.16	+5.81
Foundatn Coal*	FCL	4316400	39.78	+4.23
AngloGold Ash*	AU	5655200	53.29	+3.69
Peabody Enrgy*	BTU	11200400	49.62	+3.62
Meridian Gold*	MDG	3137500	29.13	+3.59
Freeport McMo*	FCX	11144700	56.19	+3.56
Yanzhou Coal*	YZC	116300	43.38	+3.03
Potash C Sask*	POT	2580600	82.22	-4.02
Soc Quim&M Ch*	SQM	76800	115.35	-3.40
Cabot Corp*	CBT	2941800	33.84	-2.80
Southern Peru*	PCU	5484100	81.00	-1.78
Fording C C T*	FDG	5806500	39.38	-1.01
Mosaic*	MOS	3322500	14.36	-0.91
MDU Res*	MDU	1117400	33.20	-0.66
Puda Coal*	PUDC	100041	3.85	-0.35
Cardero Res*	CDY	306700	2.88	-0.33
Peru Copper*	CUP	1201000	2.83	-0.30

U.S. most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
UNICO Inc*	UNCN	1183895	0.002	0.002	0.002	0.00
Goldspring*	GSPG	61074	0.017	0.014	0.014	-0.003
AuGrid*	AUGC	32803	0.011	0.002	0.002	-0.002
Coeur d Alene*	CDE	30838	6.65	5.46	6.56	+0.87
Silverado*	SLGLF	29322	0.15	0.105	0.147	+0.025
Newmont Mng*	NEM	25298	51.49	47.71	50.52	+1.30
Alcoa*	AA	17496	30.73	28.96	30.33	+0.53
Barrick Gold*	ABX	15623	26.69	25.46	26.54	-0.03
DRDGOLD*	DROOY	14327	1.45	1.24	1.44	+0.07
Phelps Dodge*	PD	14135	77.70	71.20	76.61	+1.65