U.S. Markets March 27-April 2

United States stock markets spent much of the trading period March 27-April 2 treading water, with both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index down fractionally. Generally upbeat news from the broad economy — U.S. gross domestic product growth was 2.5%, annualized, at the end of 2006 — was balanced by increasing crude oil prices and musings from Federal Reserve Bank chairman Ben Bernanke that inflation was higher than the Bank expected.

In the resource stocks, declining stocks led advancing ones 89 to 69, with most of the large base metal miners gaining ground and most of the big gold miners losing it. Leading the base metal group was Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, which rose US$2.03 to US$66.73 on a volume of 75.1 million shares. Southern Copper added US$1.49 to US$72.64, Rio Tinto was up US$2.50 at US$230.60, and Anglo American tacked on US54 to finish at US$26.73, having touched a 52-week high of US$26.69.

Companhia Vale do Rio Doce slid US23 to US$37.37, after above-ground workers at the Sudbury, Ont., operations of CVRD Inco accepted a contract that ended a one-day strike.

Gold bullion prices declined US$5.75 during the period, finishing at US$658.25 per oz. in the London afternoon fixing on April 2. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index was up, barely, at 139.30 points, while the unhedged companies in the Amex Gold Bugs Index slid just a little, to 345.16. Newmont Mining paid the price for an analyst’s downgrade, falling US$1.40 to US$42.33, while AngloGold Ashanti was unchanged at US$45.30 and Gold Fields rose US93 to US$19.12. Hecla Mining was among the bigger gainers in the mid-tier, with a US17 rise to US$9.34, to close at a 52-week high.

Among U.S. juniors, molybdenum developer Idaho General Mines picked up US80 for a close of US$4.69. After the April 2 close, Coghill Capital Management, which owns about 37% of Idaho General’s stock, said in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it was proposing a business combination to the company, which holds the Mount Hope and Hall-Tonopah molydenum projects in Nevada.

U.S. greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Sao Luis Mng*	SAOL	1921	0.48	0.28	0.44	+	58.8
Diamond Discv*	DMDD	970	0.009	0.007	0.009	+	50.0
Gold Reserve*	GRZ	5576	7.18	4.28	6.55	+	48.8
Commerce Grp*	CGCO	19	0.14	0.11	0.14	+	47.3
Crystallex In*	KRY	76827	4.18	3.02	4.04	+	32.0
Geocom Res*	GOCM	614	0.44	0.25	0.40	+	29.0
Pine Valley M*	PVMCF	233	0.051	0.041	0.051	+	24.3
Corriente Rs*	ETQ	1035	3.18	2.40	2.91	+	23.3
HuntMountain*	HNTM	18	0.52	0.42	0.48	+	23.0
Idaho Gen Mn*	GMO	4714	4.75	3.91	4.69	+	20.5
Brookmount Ex*	BMXI	22	0.14	0.11	0.12	–	25.0
Goldfield*	GV	1270	1.18	0.95	1.03	–	13.4
World Vent*	WVNTF	130	0.16	0.14	0.14	–	12.5
Banro Res*	BAA	103	11.48	8.82	10.02	–	12.1
Madison Minls*	MMRSF	92	0.59	0.42	0.54	–	11.9
Caledonia Mng*	CALVF	3697	0.132	0.105	0.112	–	11.1
Anooraq Res*	ANO	2878	1.75	1.48	1.509	–	10.7
Trend Mng*	TRDM	611	0.12	0.10	0.104	–	9.5
Nevsun Res*	NSU	812	2.17	1.88	1.96	–	9.2
Samex Mng*	SMXMF	400	0.80	0.672	0.69	–	9.0

U.S. greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE		CHANGE
Soc Quim&M Ch*	SQM	208700	145.51	+	3.77
Yanzhou Coal*	YZC	211700	49.19	+	2.75
Rio Tinto*	RTP	1847600	230.60	+	2.50
Gold Reserve*	GRZ	5575800	6.55	+	2.15
Freeport McMo*	FCX	75088723	66.73	+	2.03
Cameco Corp*	CCJ	11225363	41.72	+	1.51
Southern Copp*	PCU	9761282	72.64	+	1.49
ASA (Bermuda)*	ASA	189700	65.78	+	1.43
Potash C Sask*	POT	4939951	160.02	+	1.02
Crystallex In*	KRY	76827406	4.04	+	0.98
Royal Gold*	RGLD	1767177	30.33	–	1.68
Newmont Mng*	NEM	32996906	42.33	–	1.40
Banro Res*	BAA	102700	10.02	–	1.38
OM Group*	OMG	3464100	44.71	–	1.34
Agnico-Eagle*	AEM	11387822	36.57	–	1.27
Alcan*	AL	6872200	52.34	–	1.14
Foundatn Coal*	FCL	3261000	34.49	–	0.84
Teck Comin B*	TCK	920500	70.82	–	0.79
APEX Silver*	SIL	1636000	13.21	–	0.72
Mosaic*	MOS	9243464	26.85	–	0.65

U.S. most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Crystallex In*	KRY	76827	4.18	3.02	4.04	+	0.98
Freeport McMo*	FCX	75089	67.19	63.51	66.73	+	2.03
DRDGOLD*	DROOY	46605	0.70	0.64	0.69	+	0.03
Goldcorp*	GG	38041	25.14	23.77	24.77	–	0.45
Coeur d Alene*	CDE	34228	4.32	4.07	4.30	+	0.05
CVRD*	RIO	33641	37.44	35.71	37.37	–	0.23
Alcoa*	AA	33597	34.39	33.26	33.92	–	0.25
Newmont Mng*	NEM	32997	43.36	41.51	42.33	–	1.40
StreetTr Gold*	GLD	24595	66.48	64.93	65.85	+	0.01
Barrick Gold*	ABX	19907	29.20	28.40	28.80	–	0.25