STOCK MARKET — TSE continues to break records, while gold has its day — Juniors feed off higher prices for the yellow metal

The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 index broke another record, ending the report period of April 1-7 at 7579.70, for a gain of 28.56 points, or 0.4%, over the previous period.

The market was stimulated partly by a rally in trading, with each day of the week seeing more than 100 million shares cross the floor. The most intense activity occurred on April 3, when 151.5 million shares changed hands.

The Canadian dollar was down 35 basis points on the American dollar, finishing the period at US70.20 cents. The loony lost ground to the pound as well, though it posted gains on the French franc, the mark and the yen.

The star performer of the week was gold, which turned a new leaf on April 6 by rising to US$313.50 per oz. The price fell that afternoon and, two days later, settled at a London morning fix of US$309.75 per oz. This represents an increase of $8.15 over the previous week and may signal a return to previous price levels. Platinum also rose significantly, jumping $10.50 to US$41.9.50 per oz.; silver, on the other hand, lost a penny to finish at US$6.46 per oz.

With the higher gold prices, the TSE’s gold and precious metals sub-group surged ahead 873.14 points, or 13.3%, to 7446.27. The rally in the gold market was reflected in gold issues: Barrick Gold rose $1.30 to $32 on a trading volume of 15 million shares; Kinross Gold gained 70 cents to $6.45 on a volume of 12.5 million shares; and TVX Gold edged ahead $1 to $20.05 on a volume of 9.6 million shares.

Royalty sisters Euro-Nevada Mining and Franco-Nevada Mining, both of which are particularly sensitive to fluctuations in the price of gold, made significant gains. The

former rose $1.95 to $25.95; the latter, $3.85

to $36.85.

Also ahead on the week week were: Greenstone Resources, up $2.10 to $10; Goldcorp, up $1.20 to $8.10; and Geomaque Explorations, up 10 cents to $2.40.

The TSE’s metals and minerals sub-index was not as fortunate as its precious-metal counterpart. The sub-group fell 65.04 points, or 1.6%, to end the week at 4049.45. Zinc was the only base metal to rise in value, climbing 2 cents to 51 cents per lb. Nickel was off 6 cents to US$2.43 per lb., while copper fell a penny to US$78 cents per lb. Lead managed to stay on par with its performance of the previous period.

Noranda dropped $1.25 to $26.85, while Inco fell 40 cents to $26.10. Also down last week were Rio Algom, which shed 45 cents to end at $26.25, and Falconbridge, which lost 30 cents to close at $20.20. Bucking the trend were Teck B-series, which climbed 60 cents to $21.10, and Cambior, which rose $1.15 to $10.80.

A share in Cameco was worth 25 cents more than in the previous report period, at $43.75. The company reported record earnings for 1997 and passed another regulatory hurdle in the race to place the Cigar Lake project in production.

Situated in northern Saskatchewan, Cigar Lake is the second-largest high-grade uranium deposit in the world, second only to the nearby MacArthur River deposit (a current producer). Cameco owns a 48.75% stake in Cigar Lake and 56% of MacArthur River.

The market’s reaction to LionOre Mining’s balance sheet for 1997 was positive. Though the company reported a writedown of US$73.4 million, it expects future earnings to be enhanced as a result of lower depreciation costs. Investors appeared to agree and pushed the issue ahead 33 cents to $1.05. LionOre’s chief asset is a 41.6% interest in the Tati nickel mine in Botswana, where production in 1998 is expected to surpass last year’s yield of 7,131 tonnes of nickel and 2,450 tonnes of copper.

An attempt by Rayrock Yellowknife Resources to take over Minera Rayrock caused a trading frenzy in the parent company. Minera saw more than 5.6 million of its shares change hands, with the value increasing by 15 cents to 29 cents.