U.S. Markets October 10-16

Modest rises on United States stock markets were overshadowed by big gains in the mining equities during the reporting period Oct. 10-16. While the Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose just 18.39 points, or 1.4%, to 1,369.05, the Philadelphia XAU (at 130.25) and the Amex Gold Bugs index (at 306.06) both ran up 5.4% gains.

The broad market gains came on news of good earnings figures from the blue chips and on weaker prices for crude oil; Brent crude finished the period at US$58.50 and West Texas at US$59.59 per barrel. The good economic news, and another rally in metal markets, were a tonic for the large base metal producers: Rio Tinto rose US$17.99 to US$207.74, BHP Billiton US$4.00 to US$42.00 and Anglo American US$1.66 to US$22.83. Companhia Vale do Rio Doce was the most actively traded of the big offshore miners, rising US$1.56 to US$24.38 on volume of 26.5 million shares.

Copper was up US$135 over the five trading days, at US$7,590 per tonne, and copper-sensitive Southern Copper rose US$4.14 to US$51.05. Phelps Dodge, rumoured to be looking at Australian copper mid-tier Oxiana Resources, rose US$11.06 to US$96.71. Teck Cominco, which, like Phelps, did not buy Inco, was up US$5.87 at US$70.40.

The coal sector did well even as energy prices deflated: Peabody Energy, which finalized its takeover of Australian coal producer Excel Coal, rose US$4.62 to US$42.39, Arch Coal jumped US$4.68 to US$32.86, and Massey Energy closed at US$24.12, up US$3.29.

Gold prices were up about US$20 over the period, with the London afternoon fix set at US$595.10 per oz. on Oct. 16; oddly, the rise came later in the period, with the market barely raising an eyebrow to North Korea’s announcement of a nuclear test.

Among the big gold producers, Newmont Mining rose US$2.31 to US$43.57, AngloGold Ashanti US$2.25 to US$39.26 and Harmony Gold Mining US61 to US$14.46, while Gold Fields was down a quarter to US$17.45. Things were hotter in the mid-tiers, with Randgold Resources up US$2.21 to US$22.25, Minas Buenaventura up US$1.88 to US$26.34, and Hecla Mining US62 to US$5.70.

U.S. greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Commerce Grp*	CGCO	21	0.11	0.062	0.11	+77.4
Goldspring*	GSPG	18641	0.005	0.004	0.005	+66.6
Banro Res*	BAA	71	11.80	8.10	11.65	+42.0
Lafayette Mng*	LYMGF	20	0.07	0.05	0.07	+40.0
Douglas Lk Ml*	DLKM	337	1.76	1.30	1.72	+27.4
Liberty Star*	LBTS	1633	0.53	0.35	0.53	+21.0
Metalline Mng*	MMGG	636	2.04	1.64	1.98	+20.7
Entree Gold*	EGI	130	1.18	0.91	1.15	+18.5
Golden Eagle*	MYNG	5800	0.014	0.01	0.013	+18.1
Arch Coal*	ACI	11605	32.87	28.00	32.86	+16.6
Trend Mng*	TRDM	933	0.09	0.06	0.065	-27.7
Uranerz Energ*	URZ	225	1.98	1.48	1.51	-22.9
Geocom Res*	GOCM	71	0.27	0.21	0.21	-22.2
McKenzie Bay*	MKBY	1327	0.12	0.09	0.09	-21.7
Patriot Gold*	PGOL	108	0.10	0.07	0.08	-20.0
Diamond Discv*	DMDD	1268	0.011	0.007	0.008	-20.0
Global Gold*	GBGD	130	0.99	0.79	0.80	-20.0
Pine Valley M*	PVMCF	958	0.39	0.29	0.31	-18.4
Mayfair Mg&Ml*	MFMM	52	0.45	0.40	0.40	-16.6
Shoshone Silv*	SHSH	124	0.22	0.175	0.175	-12.5

U.S. greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Rio Tinto*	RTP	2121000	207.74	+17.99
Phelps Dodge*	PD	20156600	96.71	+11.06
Teck Comin B*	TCK	343000	70.40	+5.87
OM Group*	OMG	3057600	58.07	+5.43
Arch Coal*	ACI	11605400	32.86	+4.68
Peabody Enrgy*	BTU	21546300	42.39	+4.62
Freeport McMo*	FCX	12481200	57.99	+4.55
Southern Peru*	PCU	5249600	51.05	+4.14
Soc Quim&M Ch*	SQM	644700	124.90	+4.12
BHP Billi-BHP*	BHP	9031600	42.00	+4.00
Inco Ltd*	N	1222700	75.33	-0.92
Alcoa*	AA	40940600	27.32	-0.67
NovaGold Res*	NG	1640800	15.17	-0.58
Uranerz Energ*	URZ	224800	1.51	-0.45
Corriente Rs*	ETQ	267800	3.76	-0.35
APEX Silver*	SIL	2162500	14.10	-0.34
Gold Fields*	GFI	9949600	17.45	-0.25
Global Gold*	GBGD	129840	0.80	-0.20
Sao Luis Mng*	SAOL	367179	2.06	-0.18
Richmont Mine*	RIC	41800	2.56	-0.16

U.S. most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
AuGrid*	AUGC	309092	0.00	1.0E8	0.00	0.00
Alcoa*	AA	40941	28.42	26.39	27.32	-0.67
CVRD*	RIO	26481	24.49	22.80	24.38	+1.56
Peabody Enrgy*	BTU	21546	42.50	37.26	42.39	+4.62
Newmont Mng*	NEM	20991	43.74	40.85	43.57	+2.31
Goldcorp*	GG	20354	23.22	21.00	22.92	+1.53
Phelps Dodge*	PD	20157	96.94	84.50	96.71	+11.06
Goldspring*	GSPG	18641	0.005	0.004	0.005	+0.002
Barrick Gold*	ABX	15097	30.27	28.30	30.21	+0.94
Equitable Mng*	EQBM	12895	0.009	0.006	0.009	-0.001