Gold benefits from recent market whipsaw

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 228.73 points to finish the report period ended April 4 at 11,164.84, despite wild fluctuations on the last trading day. It plunged as much as 500 points during the day’s trading, dragged down by a similar drop in Nasdaq trading, though both managed to climb out of the hole.

Spot gold rose to US$283.90 per oz. on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold producers also responded positively, though most of them ended the week mixed as the result of earlier slumping prices. Newmont Mining gained 88 to close at US$23.50; Ashanti Goldfields rose 19 to US$2.25; mid-sized Meridian Gold added 31 to 5.81; Glamis Gold climbed 25 to US$2.06; and South Africa’s Randgold picked up 72 to close at US$3.75. Then again, Gold Fields slipped 31 to US$3.75; Anglogold dipped 44 to US$24.31; New York Stock Exchange-listed Homestake Mining dropped 24 to a new low of US$5.88; and Battle Mountain Gold lost 19 to close at US$1.81.

In copper, Phelps Dodge climbed 56 to close at US$46.62 and Broken Hill Proprietary gained $1.38 to close at US$22.94. Class B shares of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold dropped $1.69 to close at US$12, while Rio Tinto jumped $3.56 to close at US$68.56.

Platinum-producer Stillwater Mining fell back $1.24 to US$40.38, while Nasdaq-listed De Beers Consolidated Mines dipped 88 to close at US$22.50 in the diamond market.