Toronto Stock Exchange – FEB. 3-9

The job picture on both sides of the Canada-U. S. border continued to deteriorate in January, with 598,000 U. S. jobs lost, and 129,000 fewer jobs in Canada. The unemployment rate stateside rose to 7.6% with unemployment in Canada at 7.2%. And TD Bank says that things could get uglier, with Canada losing 325,000 jobs this year, bringing unemployment to 9%.

Despite the bleak jobs picture, Canadian equity indices managed to post gains during the Feb. 3-8 trading period, on optimism that the massive U. S. economic stimulus package would be passed by Congress.

The S&P/TSX composite index added 422 points or 4.9% to 9,047, while the Capped Metals and Mining index jumped 54 points or 22.7% to 293, and the Capped Materials index climbed 17 points, or 7.1%, to 259.

In e-mailed comments, Pierre Lapointe, market strategist at National Bank, said he doesn’t believe the resource sector will be an early beneficiary of changing investor sentiment. Instead, it will lag non-cyclical sectors in the equity market as they start to recover.

Uranium One shares climbed 32¢ to $2.01 on the week. After the trading period, a group of Japanese companies poured $270 million into the company for a 19.95% stake, and an option to buy 20% of its uranium output. The deal will see 117 million new shares issued at $2.30 apiece.

Sudbury, Ont., nickel miner FNX Mining jumped 98¢ to $4.24 on a strengthening nickel price. The company decided not to renew its line of credit because of high interest rates.

Copper miner First Quantum Minerals added $8.87 to $31 on rising copper prices. In January, the company announced the renewal of a US$250-million revolving loan facility.

The class B shares of diversified miner Teck gained 96¢ to $5.50.

Gold producer Kinross Gold added 56¢ to $21.91 after completing a new share issue totalling 24 million shares at US$17.25 per share, for about US$415 million. In a statement, the company said it will use the proceeds to enhance its capital position and for general corporate purposes.

Apollo Gold vaulted 20¢ to 46¢ on heavy volume. The company operates the Montana Tunnels gold mine in Montana as a joint venture, and is working to bring the Black Fox gold project in Ontario to production. In December, Apollo closed a bridge loan for US$15 million, and raised another $900,000 in flow-through financing.

Keegan Resources, which holds gold exploration projects in Ghana, saw its shares gain 32¢ to $1.98 after it reported gold intercepts on its Esaase project.

Copper miner Inmet Mining added $5.11 to $26.61 after reporting a quarterly loss of 67¢ per share. The loss included a one-time impairment charge of 71¢ per share for the company’s Cerattepe project in Turkey.

Royal Gold, a precious metals royalty company, lost $5.44 to $52.63 after reporting net income of $21.4 million for the quarter.

TSX most active issues
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Uranium One	UUU	57440	2.19	1.66	2.01	+ 0.32
Teck B	TCKB	50446	5.80	4.35	5.50	+ 0.96
Yamana Gold	YRI	36036	10.99	9.55	10.29	+ 0.81
Kinross Gold	K	27901	23.00	20.68	21.91	+ 0.56
Osisko Mng	OSK	24951	5.54	4.27	4.39	-0.91
Apollo Gold	APG	24830	0.47	0.22	0.46	+ 0.20
IAMGold Corp	IMG	20967	9.25	8.16	8.89	+ 0.59
Goldcorp	G	20232	37.82	34.39	36.09	+ 0.67
Barrick Gold	ABX	20124	49.00	43.48	45.82	+ 1.03
HoriznsGBull	HGU	19001	14.14	11.89	12.76	+ 0.44

TSX greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Yukon-Nev Gold	YNG	11472	0.09	0.05	0.08	+100.0
Pac NW Cap	PFN	81	0.14	0.10	0.13	+ 85.7
Apollo Gold	APG	24830	0.47	0.22	0.46	+ 76.9
Western Copper	WRN	231	0.48	0.29	0.48	+ 65.5
Athabasca Pota	API	784	2.40	1.44	2.39	+ 62.5
Homeland Enrgy	HEG	13321	0.20	0.13	0.19	+ 58.3
Aberdeen Intl	AAB	1872	0.50	0.16	0.25	+ 56.2
Centenario Cpr	CCT	998	1.15	0.81	1.14	+ 56.1
Canadn Gld Hun	CGH	2412	0.35	0.21	0.35	+ 52.1
Pure Diam Expl	PUG	445	0.03	0.02	0.03	+ 50.0
BRC DiamondCr	BCD	71	0.24	0.14	0.16	-46.6
North Atlc Res	NAC	62	0.06	0.04	0.04	-33.3
Energem Res	ENM	30	0.12	0.11	0.11	-31.2
Zazu Metals	ZAZ	355	0.14	0.10	0.11	-26.6
Franconia Mnls	FRA	588	0.17	0.13	0.13	-23.5
Aeroquest Intl	AQL	327	0.41	0.31	0.31	-22.5
Linear Metals	LRM	203	0.08	0.06	0.07	-22.2
PC Gold	PKL	72	0.75	0.55	0.55	-21.4
Australn Solom	SGA	394	0.12	0.09	0.11	-21.4
Goldstake Exp	GXP	363	0.04	0.03	0.04	-20.0

TSX greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Potash Cp Sask	POT	11476749	107.93	+ 16.28
First Quantum	FM	3312727	31.00	+ 8.87
Agrium	AGU	7662301	47.12	+ 5.62
Labdr I-Ore Ro	LIF_U	729190	27.77	+ 5.17
Inmet Mining	IMN	1936357	26.61	+ 5.11
Major Drilling	MDI	358894	15.56	+ 2.80
Agnico-Eagle	AEM	5190482	64.50	+ 1.85
Russell Metals	RUS	740143	20.42	+ 1.55
Central Gold-T	GTU_U	25173	46.10	+ 1.43
NorthernDynM	NDM	1936912	6.10	+ 1.25
Royal Gold	RGL	20092	52.63	-5.44
IShCOMEXGTr	IGT	46039	107.40	-3.44
Franco-Nevada	FNV	2976858	23.38	-2.89
Pan Am Silver	PAA	1977094	19.74	-1.89
Osisko Mng	OSK	24950938	4.39	-0.91
Red Back Mng	RBI	9147511	6.81	-0.74
Alamos Gold	AGI	4588812	7.35	-0.66
Allied Nevada	ANV	380742	5.79	-0.51
Jaguar Mng	JAG	1971269	6.50	-0.48
Horizns G Bear	HGD	7704018	9.34	-0.48