Golds slip in bouncy trading

U.S. markets had a bouncy week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average covering a 150-point spread in the report period Feb. 19-25, before settling at 7,909.50. The golds were down and the base metal producers up, even though gold prices recovered a bit over the same stretch.

Newmont, always the bellwether of the New York-listed golds, slid US6 to US$27.12, while Gold Fields backed up US15 to US$12.31 and AngloGold was unchanged at US$32. Randgold Resources took at US$2.34 hit, finishing at US$26.06, and royalty company Royal Gold was off US$5.03 at US$19.73. Ashanti Goldfields was the big winner, tacking on US27 to finish at US$6.42; the company reported year-end earnings of US$79.7 million, an increase of 33% over the previous year, and retired US$69 million in debt.

The platinum-group producers both had a bad week, but Anglo American Platinum, off US24 at US$36.38, had nothing like the week Stillwater Mining had. Stillwater was down US67 at US$2.33 — off, need it be said, from a 52-week high of US$19.39.

A couple of smaller producers managed to swim against the tide: Hecla Mining was up US12 at US$3.83 on news that reserves had essentially been replaced at its operating mines in 2002. Lihir Gold, sometimes tipped as a takeover target, was up US90 at US$16.80.

The base metals were mainly better, though Anglo American fell US58 to US$14.02 and Southern Peru Copper slid US53 to US$15.57. Phelps Dodge firmed US63 to close at US$35.45, while BHP Billiton added US38 to end at US$11.28.