Rally ends as gold price slips

A 3-week rally by U.S. gold producers was abruptly halted during the April 3-9 report period, as bullion prices took a strong turn for the worse.

In London, spot gold was off US$7.15 from the previous period, trading at US$297.80 per oz. on the morning of April 10. The yellow metal managed to recover US20 by the afternoon fix, but by then producers had already suffered.

AngloGold fared the worst, plunging $2.31 to US$22.52, followed by arch-rival Newmont Mining, which sank US$1.50 to US$27.02 as 14.9 million shares crossed the floor. Among the other big players, Gold Fields flopped US$1.01 to US$9.46, Compania de Minas Buenaventura dropped US70 to US$27.10, Durban Roodepoort Deep dipped US37 to US$3.40, and Ashanti Goldfields slipped US13 to US$4.87.

Alcoa was the most active mining issue south of the border, dipping US53 to US$37.38 on a volume of 16.8 million shares. The aluminum titan announced a cautious return to profitability during the first quarter, earning US$218 million, or nearly half of what it earned a year earlier. In the final quarter of 2001, Alcoa lost US$142 million.

Among the copper heavyweights, Phelps Dodge tanked $2.43 to US$39.30 and Freeport McMoRan & Gold‘s B series slipped 18 to US$17.57. Southern Peru Copper bucked the trend by edging ahead 15 to US$13.40.

Overseas titans Rio Tinto, Anglo American and BHP Billiton were down as well: Rio fell US55 to US$81; Anglo shed 41 to finish at US$16.65; and BHP slipped 8 to end at US$12.47.