U.S. stock markets edged lower in the reporting period July 21-27, and for the most part mining equities — in both precious and base metals — edged along with them. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 0.6%, falling 63.93 points to 10,085.14, while the broader-based S&P 500 index slipped 1.2% to 1,094.83.
Newmont Mining led the golds lower, falling US$2.45 to US$38.95 as gold slid more than US$13. Unhedged Gold Fields bucked the trend, rising US15, to US$9.41, possibly as the South African rand weakened from US16.75 to US15.77 over the same period. Similarly, Harmony Gold Mining was up US34, to US$10.30, but the same news didn’t work for AngloGold Ashanti, which fell US$1.13 to US$30.77.
The rand effect worked on the white-goods producers too, with Anglo American Platinum up US31 at US$37, while homebrew Stillwater Mining was hit for a US$1.54 loss, closing at US$14.23.
Among mid-tier and smaller gold producers, there were mostly losses: Compania de Minas Buenaventura was down US$1.95 at US$20.80 and Randgold Resources fell US25 to US$8.04.
Silver actually lost more ground than gold during the report period, falling back about 5% to US$6.24 per oz. Silver producer Coeur d’Alene Mines fell US74, to US$3.21, while producer-in-waiting Apex Silver was off US$1.90 at US$17.05.
In the base metal world, a rising U.S. dollar sank most of the equities. Phelps Dodge fell US$2.43 at US$74.40 and Southern Peru Copper was down the same amount at US$37.92. WMC Resources was off US90 at US$14.09 while BHP Billiton backed up US72, to US$17.86.
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