Trading Summary (May 01, 2001)

The Toronto Stock Exchange shed 0.33 point on Tuesday to end at 78,946.3. The Gold & Precious Minerals subindex saw the best percentage gain, rising 2.1% or 98.96 points. Heading the other way were the Oil & Gas sector, off 1.7% or 162.52 points, and the conglomerates, down 1.1% or 155.48 points.

Teck and Cominco remained in investors’ sights, with both taking spots on the podium of the TSE’s most active issue list. Teck headed the list, knocking market heavyweight Nortel Networks out of its usual most traded spot with more than 8.1 million shares on the go. The stock rose 78, or more than 5%, to $16.24. Cominco gained $1.10, or 3.3%, to $34.45 on volume of nearly 5.4 million shares.

The companies announced a merger plan which would, if approved, create North America’s third-largest metals mining company and the world’s biggest zinc miner, with a market capitalisation of about $1.3 billion.

Other base metal miners making gains on the day were Noranda, up 43 to $16.73, and Aur Resources, up 20, or 8.5%, to $2.55.

Another miner making the top 10 list was Placer Dome. The gold miner rose 2 to $15.97 on about 2.6 million shares. The company recently posted first-quarter earnings of US$16 million, (5 per share) on revenue of US$341 million, down from the year-ago US$29 million (9 per share) earned on US$383 million.

Barrick Gold gained 75 to hit $25.90, Kinross Gold rose 6 to 90, Franco-Nevada Mining climbed a quarter to $18.25 and Meridian Gold tacked on 30 to reach $12.95.

Canada’s junior exchange rallied strongly on moderate volume, led by a triple-digit gain in the Mining Index. The Canadian Ventures Exchange gained 20.76 points, or 0.7%, to finish the day at 3,078.68. The Mining Index climbed 105.71 points, or 1.7%, to close at 6,381.04.

Montello Resources topped the most actively traded chart, climbing 1 to 11 on just over 1 million shares. Driving the heavy volume was the news that the company can earn a 66.6% interest in certain gas leases in eastern Tennessee. The junior also holds a stake in the Legend diamond property in Alberta. Recent tests on the Kendu pipe failed to show any diamonds.

Tyler Resources held on to recent gains, ending the day flat at 24 on 760,000 shares. Its joint-venture partner, Diamondex Resources, recently reported a new kimberlite pipe discovery on the Carat property, some 350 km northeast of Yellowknife. Diamondex ended the day at $1.79, down 11 on 164,000 shares.

Philex Gold traded in a broad range before ending the day up 9 at $1.59 on 65,000 shares. The junior’s share price recently surged following the release of more impressive intercepts from the Boyongan copper-gold prospect in the Philippines.

Hathor Explorations climbed 2 to 27 on 600,000 shares. The company continues to search for opportunities in the mining sector.

The first batch of drill results from the Pedra Branca platinum-palladium prospect in Brazil appears to have disappointed investors. Rockwell Ventures dropped 9 on the news to end the day at 45 on a modest 110,200 shares.