U.S. stock markets were little-changed over the report period Dec. 1-7, but the mining stocks fell sharply. The S&P 500 index, representative of the broad market, was up 3.25 points to 1,177.07, but the XAU gold and silver index fell about 6% in the same period, even as the price of gold was making new highs.
That misery was spread around both gold and base metal sectors. Phelps Dodge led the base metal stocks lower, falling US$8.03 to US$89.10 on a volume of 9.9 million shares. BHP Billiton was off a buck at US$22.76, Rio Tinto fell US$3.88 to US$113.71, and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold shed US$2.95 to finish at US$36.18.
Over in the gold group, the big news was shareholders’ rejection of Gold Fields‘ plan to merge its international assets with Toronto-listed Iamgold. Gold Fields fell US77 to US$13.35, while Harmony Gold Mining, whose hostile offer for Gold Fields is obviously some shareholders’ Plan B, was docked US81, closing at US$9.67.
Hecla Mining took one of the hardest blows, falling more than 15% to US$5.73. Cross-town rival Coeur d’Alene Mines dived US52 to US$4.07 on a volume of 14 million shares. The biggest of the home-grown gold producers, Newmont Mining, was down US$2.04 to US$45.31.
Strength in the platinum market, which saw prices it hadn’t seen since August, didn’t protect the white-goods producers. Palladium-sensitive Stillwater Mining was down US72 at US$11.14, while Anglo American Platinum fell US$1.50 to US$35.75.
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