Toronto Stock Exchange – Dec. 23-Jan. 5

Rising oil prices and renewed faith in financials helped inject a level of strength in the TSX composite index that investors have not seen for some time. The index gained 12% over the Dec. 23-Jan. 5 trading period, finishing at 9,285.51 points.

And while energy and financials grabbed much of the credit, base metals did their part as well. The Capped Metals and Mining index finally showed some life as it gained 42%, finishing at 304.44 points. Those gains came on the back of stronger metal prices as copper, nickel, tin, lead and zinc prices all made significant moves upwards.

Inmet Mining was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the renewed confidence, gaining $8.49 to close at $24.84.

The gold mining sector, however, did not enjoy similar success. The Global Gold index actually declined during the session, if only slightly, finishing at 234.97 points, off roughly a point. That move came as gold prices continued to inch higher.

The yellow metal finished the period roughly US$10 higher than where it began at US$853 per oz.

Still, the big names in gold mining managed to carve out respectable gains with Yamana Gold up 68¢ to $8.52, Kinross Gold up 86¢ to $20.97, Goldcorp up 66¢ to $34.72, and Agnico-Eagle Mines up $4.66 to $58.96.

Word that Uranium One had closed a deal netting it $90 million had the markets rallying around the company. In an environment where cash is king, the news sent Uranium One shares up 42¢ to 1.97 and it was the most actively traded stock for the period with 50 million shares trading hands.

The money comes from a deal that will see Japan-based Mitsui take a 49% interest in Uranium One’s Honeymoon project in Australia as well its exploration portfolio in the country. Uranium One says the bulk of the funds will go towards developing Honeymoon through to commercial production.

But investors’ renewed faith in uranium didn’t stop with Uranium One. Cameco finished $4.31 higher at $23.25, Denison Mines shares were up $1 to $1.85, and Paladin Energy gained 80¢ to finish at $2.59.

Fellow uranium plays Laramide Resources and Mega Uranium saw even greater surges over the period with Laramide gaining 250% to finish at $2.10 and Mega gaining 207% to $1.29.

But the news is never good for all miners, and the period saw Seabridge Gold fall on drill results from the final 13 holes at the Mitchell zone at its KSM project, in B. C. The results failed to win market support even though the company reported the holes met their objectives: a best intersect of 594 metres grading 0.66 gram gold per tonne and 0.24% copper wasn’t enough to spark a rally. Seabridge shares were down 17% to $14.90 for the session.

TSX most active issues
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Uranium One	UUU	50252	1.97	1.41	1.84	+ 0.42
Teck B	TCKB	38512	8.43	4.95	8.20	+ 3.05
Yamana Gold	YRI	37854	9.66	7.72	8.52	+ 0.68
Breakwater Res	BWR	27161	0.19	0.07	0.17	+ 0.10
Denison Mines	DML	26974	2.27	0.80	1.85	+ 1.00
Kinross Gold	K	26717	23.00	19.87	20.97	+ 0.86
Eastern Platin	ELR	23463	0.39	0.28	0.38	+ 0.08
Paladin Energy	PDN	23416	2.66	1.79	2.59	+ 0.80
High River Gol	HRG	23321	0.15	0.11	0.12	+ 0.01
Goldcorp	G	21427	38.97	33.52	34.72	+ 0.66

TSX greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
WGI Heavy Mnl	WG	3447	1.00	0.11	0.17	+466.6
Atlanta Gold	ATG	589	0.14	0.06	0.11	+450.0
Mawson Res	MAW	725	0.60	0.13	0.58	+286.6
Pinetree Cap	PNP	7780	1.79	0.42	1.65	+275.0
Laramide Res	LAM	2514	2.15	0.57	2.10	+250.0
Cline Mng	CMK	2842	0.43	0.10	0.40	+233.3
Mega Uranium	MGA	5553	1.34	0.41	1.29	+207.1
Energy Fuels	EFR	3532	0.45	0.15	0.45	+200.0
Avnel Gold	AVK	78	0.08	0.05	0.06	+200.0
Mercator Mnls	ML	8997	0.89	0.32	0.85	+174.1
Nord Res	NRD	99	0.26	0.20	0.20	-37.5
Carlisle Goldf	CGJ	556	0.03	0.02	0.03	-25.0
Seabridge Gold	SEA	50	17.99	14.80	14.90	-17.2
Dynasty Met&Mn	DMM	580	3.69	2.69	2.69	-17.2
Duluth Metals	DM	1179	0.41	0.31	0.31	-16.2
Marklnd AGF PM	MPM	18	5.34	4.50	4.50	-15.8
Firstgold	FGD	96	0.25	0.20	0.22	-15.3
Ursa Major Min	UMJ	774	0.06	0.03	0.06	-14.2
Minera Andes	MAI	1935	0.50	0.39	0.42	-10.6
Vista Gold	VGZ	189	1.70	1.40	1.40	-9.6

TSX greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Potash Cp Sask	POT	8469529	98.50	+ 19.17
Inmet Mining	IMN	1150926	24.84	+ 8.49
Agrium	AGU	7407008	44.10	+ 8.22
First Quantum	FM	2104787	22.94	+ 5.54
Labdr I-Ore Ro	LIF_U	453279	24.90	+ 5.40
Agnico-Eagle	AEM	5774851	58.96	+ 4.66
Russell Metals	RUS	1323308	21.00	+ 4.55
Teck A	TCKA	51818	11.81	+ 4.49
Cameco Corp	CCO	7846229	23.25	+ 4.31
Major Drilling	MDI	607345	14.57	+ 3.37
Seabridge Gold	SEA	50056	14.90	-3.10
Central Gold-T	GTU_U	96737	45.40	-1.60
IShCOMEXGTr	IGT	75511	100.68	-1.08
Marklnd AGF PM	MPM	17600	4.50	-0.85
Dynasty Met&Mn	DMM	580359	2.69	-0.56
Tanz Roy Exp	TNX	446545	4.59	-0.31
Alamos Gold	AGI	3558307	7.22	-0.28
Central Fund	CEFA	677239	12.53	-0.19
Imperial Metal	III	357011	2.30	-0.19
Silvercorp Mtl	SVM	2655673	2.42	-0.15