MINING MARKETS & INVESTMENT NEWS – U.S. MARKETS — Dow’s 10K bid loses steam

After flirting with the 10,000 mark for more than a week, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 258.64 points, or 2.6%, to close at 9,671.83 for the report period ended March 23. The loss was primarily due to weakness in high-tech stocks and anticipated lower first-quarter figures.

Mining companies were mixed in reaction to movements within precious metal prices. Gold companies were down further in response to the recent proposal that the International Monetary Fund should liquidate gold to aid poor countries.

American Stock Exchange-listed Getchell Gold slid $1.13 to close at US$27.25, while Ashanti Goldfields, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, dipped $1.12 to close at US$8. Newmont Mining slipped 69 cents to US$17.62.

A mini-rally in copper markets drove the price of the red metal up to 65 cents per lb. on the Commodity Exchange (Comex) division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Share prices in copper companies were higher, led by Phelps Dodge, which rose $2 to US$50. Cyprus Amax Minerals followed suit with a gain of $1.38 to finish the week at US$12.19.

Class A and B shares of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold jumped $1.13 and $1.06 to close at US$10.30 and US$10.56, respectively.

Asarco climbed 68 cents to US$15.12, while its 54%-owned subsidiary, Southern Peru Copper, picked up 50 cents to close at US$10.25.

While silver prices gyrated, miners of the metal were mixed. Apex Silver Mines advanced 50 cents to US$9.50, while Peru’s leading silver producer, Buenaventura, lost 88 cents per share to close at US$13.62.