TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE MARCH 18-24

The holiday-shortened Mar. 18-24 trading period saw a slight rebound in the TSX Composite Index as it gained 67.57 points to 13,019.72.

The marginal rally was fuelled by the financial sector, after JPMorgan Chase increased its bid for Bear Stearns. Also of help was a report from the U. S. indicating increased home sales, easing recession concerns for Canada’s largest trading partner.

The price of gold fell roughly US$10 to US$958.50 per oz., helping to knock the Global Gold Index off 55 points to 326. Platinum prices followed gold downward, finishing at US$1,890 per oz.

Miners of the two metals were the most popular for the period with Yamana Gold, Kinross Gold, Barrick Gold and Goldcorp being the four most actively traded, and Eastern Platinum rounding out the top five.

Silver and palladium made marginal gains, finishing at US$19.88 per oz. and US$464 per oz., respectively.

The news for base metals miners and explorers wasn’t great. Copper, aluminum, nickel, tin, lead and zinc prices all fell and the Capped Metals and Mining Index tumbled alongside them, falling roughly 20 points to 768.

Despite nickel prices falling to US$12.82 per lb. from US$14.16 during the session, Victory Nickel managed to capture some market enthusiasm. The Toronto-based company gained almost 15% to 39 per share after announcing a reinterpretation of an airborne electromagnetic and magnetic survey at its Minago nickel project. The company said drill targets at Minago actually extend to a depth of 1.5 km with potential for a continuous mineralized body linking two of its known deposits. The project sits on the Thompson nickel belt in Manitoba.

StrataGold also found market favour as it saw its share price gain more than 21% to 25 for the period. The company announced it had begun the first phase of its exploration program at the White Creek property, 18 km northwest of its Tassawini gold project in Guyana. White Creek is a 50-50 joint venture with Newmont Mining.

Constellation Copper continued on its downward spiral, losing 56% of its share price to finish the period at the near-microscopic sum of 3. On March 18, the company said it would have to consider filing for legal protection from its creditors if it can’t solve its liquidity problems. Constellation said it was looking at all alternatives — including bank financing, a merger, and the sale of assets or the entire company.

Fronteer Development Group also continued on a downward slide. The company lost 28% to finish at $4.77 for the period, and has been losing value since announcing that the Nunatsiavut government is considering a proposed three-year moratorium on uranium mining and milling on Labrador Inuit lands in coastal Labrador.

TSX greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Dioro Expl	DIO	29	1.75	1.45	1.60	+ 45.4
Horizns G Bear	HGD	7304	10.80	7.95	10.72	+ 33.3
Africo Res	ARL	139	1.70	1.41	1.70	+ 25.0
Western C Coal	WTN	2227	3.33	2.70	3.30	+ 24.5
StrataGold	SGV	3997	0.29	0.215	0.255	+ 21.4
Zincore Mtls	ZNC	25	0.36	0.31	0.36	+ 20.0
Fletcher Nicke	FL	18	0.75	0.74	0.75	+ 19.0
Energem Res	ENM	249	0.21	0.18	0.20	+ 17.6
GrandeCacheC	GCE	6234	3.85	3.10	3.60	+ 15.7
Victory Nickel	NI	962	0.43	0.32	0.39	+ 14.7
Constel Copper	CCU	13159	0.07	0.03	0.035	-56.2
Fronteer Dev G	FRG	1496	6.62	4.33	4.77	-27.6
Horizns G Bull	HGU	4215	35.19	25.29	25.40	-27.3
Adanac Moly	AUA	2802	0.77	0.51	0.54	-27.0
St Andrew Gldf	SAS	481	0.49	0.36	0.36	-26.5
Starcore Int V	SAM	1093	0.445	0.325	0.35	-26.3
Golden Queen	GQM	388	1.28	0.93	0.97	-24.8
La Mancha Res	LMA	130	0.50	0.39	0.39	-22.0
Carpathian Gld	CPN	455	0.52	0.40	0.415	-21.7
Ascendant C wt	ACX_T	71	0.025	0.02	0.02	-20.0

TSX greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Fording C C T	FDG_U	4018354	52.41	+ 2.74
Horizns G Bear	HGD	7303734	10.72	+ 2.68
Russell Metals	RUS	911173	25.91	+ 1.61
Labdr I-Ore Ro	LIF_U	881786	52.51	+ 0.91
CIC Energy	ELC	295852	17.16	+ 0.71
Timminco	TIM	10791502	17.99	+ 0.70
WesternCCoal	WTN	2227428	3.30	+0.65
Dioro Expl	DIO	29100	1.60	+ 0.50
GrandeCacheC	GCE	6234145	3.60	+ 0.49
Africo Res	ARL	139450	1.70	+ 0.34
Agnico-Eagle	AEM	6230278	67.44	-11.87
Horizns G Bull	HGU	4215000	25.40	-9.57
Barrick Gold	ABX	25938904	42.77	-9.42
IShCOMEXGTr	IGT	53927	91.80	-7.63
Newmont Mng	NMC	281483	46.17	-7.20
Goldcorp	G	24762573	38.02	-6.06
Inmet Mining	IMN	1755352	76.60	-5.11
First Quantum	FM	2434767	81.06	-4.44
Kinross Gold	K	28600736	21.48	-4.40
Silver Std Res	SSO	796761	30.85	-4.05

TSX most active issues
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Yamana Gold	YRI	39437	19.33	15.56	16 .05	-3.02
Kinross Gold	K	28601	26.14	21.02	21.48	-4.40
Barrick Gold	ABX	25939	52.47	42.51	42.77	-9.42
Goldcorp	G	24763	44.45	37.21	38.02	-6.06
Eastern Platin	ELR	23273	3.58	3.02	3.16	-0.44
Eldorado Gold	ELD	19997	7.63	6.23	6.52	-0.83
Teck Comin B	TCKB	15317	42.10	36.04	38.83	-2.18
Lundin Mng	LUN	14123	7.59	6.50	6.81	-0.56
Equinox Minls	EQN	14022	5.45	4.85	5.03	-0.18
Breakwater Res	BWR	13908	1.20	1.06	1.10	-0.06