STOCK MARKETS — Golds dive again as TSE sets new record — Broad market index breaks 6,600; gold index tests levels last seen in 1993

The Toronto Stock Exchange moved farther into record territory over the trading period July 9-15, with the TSE 300 composite index closing at record highs on four of the five trading days. The TSE 300 finished the report period at 6,655.93, for a gain of 75.09 points, or 1.1%, over its level on July 8.

The Canadian dollar was fractionally lower against the U.S. dollar during the report period, trading at US72.81 cents at noon on July 16. It followed the greenback higher on international currency markets, making significant gains against the yen and the European currencies.

The transportation, forest products and industrial products sub-groups led the TSE, with the metals and minerals sub-group lagging the market but still positive. But the golds were another story. Beaten down by price weakness and speculative pressure, they fell another 36.44 points over the week to close July 15 at 7,661.64.

Bullion itself recovered slightly from the recent carnage, picking up $3.75 over the report period for a London fixing price of US$319.50 per oz. The recovery rubbed off on silver, as well, which was up 4 cents to US$4.32, and platinum added $8.25, rising to US$407.25 per oz.

Kinross Gold was the volume leader, with more than 17 million shares riding the tape. The company’s July 9 announcement that it was making a normal-course issuer bid for up to 5% of its outstanding shares and up to $10 million of its convertible debentures boosted it 70 cents to $5.65.

Placer Dome clawed back 35 cents to close at $20.45, and some of the other golds that took heavy punishment in the bullion price collapse benefited from bargain-hunting, including: Bema Gold, up 30 cents to $7.45; Aurizon Mines, up 4 cents to $1.44; and Campbell Resources, up 1 cents to 73 cents.

But mostly the news was bad: Barrick Gold, always a good measure of the attitude the big funds are taking to gold stocks, slid 25 cents to $29.20; TVX Gold was off 25 cents as well, to $5.85; and Franco-Nevada Mining closed $1.80 lower at $59.95.

Two high-profile juniors with significant exposure to gold lost ground: Montreal-listed Maude Lake Explorations was down 20 cents to close at 25 cents and Toronto-listed Birim Goldfields was off 35 cents at 65 cents.

The base metal markets were mixed, with zinc stealing the show by rising 2 cents to US67 cents per lb. Copper was also higher at $1.11, whereas nickel and lead were both lower, and aluminum was essentially unchanged.

The TSE metals and minerals subgroup was 19.37 points higher at 5,130.26.

Noranda was the most active, with a volume of 3.4 million shares, and fell 50 cents to $29.50. Inco was up 75 cents at $41.25, while crosstown rival Falconbridge saw a 25 cents decline to $26.25.

Among the smaller producers, Westmin Resources was up 50 cents, closing at $6.10, and Aur Resources added 10 cents to close at $6.40.

Actively traded Toronto juniors included Santa Cruz Gold, which closed 1 cents lower at 44 cents; the company is in the process of merging with affiliated Newmex Mining, which was up 10 cents at $1.15.

Golden Rule Resources announced further results from the Stenpad property in Ghana, a gold project it shares with Vancouver-listed Hixon Gold. Stenpad, where earlier high-grade results turned out to be unrepresentative, yielded some narrow intervals grading 2.2 to 7.3 grams gold per tonne in drilling, and resampling of some trenches turned up grades generally in the 1-To-3-gram range.

Indochina Goldfields was also heavily traded, closing at $4.85 for a loss of 55 cents over the trading period. The company recently solidified plans to take over operatorship at the Bakyrchik gold mine in Kazakstan.