Trading Summary (July 31, 2001)

Some upbeat earnings reports from biotech company Biovail and Manulife Financial gave the Toronto Stock Exchange a bit of a boost on Tuesday. The TSE 300 composite index gained 48.37 to end at 7,689.69 points. The conglomerates subindex led the charge gaining 247.55 points or 1.85%. The metals & minerals subgroup edged up 2.41 points to 4,094.26 points. The golds were just one of two of the TSE’s 14 subindexes to suffer a loss, it fell 49.24 points or 1.1%.

All of the precious metals regained lost ground in New York on Tuesday. Most notable was palladium, which took back US$24 to hit US$452 per oz., after falling US$17per oz. on Monday. The base metals were less fortunate with most posting losses for a second straight day. Copper and aluminum stood out rising marginally.

The country’s gold miners were awash in red ink. Barrick Gold was the most active falling 30 to $22.70 on 876,392 shares. Others on the slide were Placer Dome, off 27 to $15.35, Franco-Nevada Mining, off 30 to $19.95, and Kinross Gold, TVX Gold and Cambior all lost a penny to end at $1.20, 69, and 67, respectively. Some unfortunate percentage movers in the gold group were: Viceroy Resources, down 2 or 13.3%; Miramar Mining, lower by a dime or 9.1%; and Hope Bay Gold, down 4 or 11.8%.

Among the base metal issues, Teck B series were the most active falling 8 to $11.67 with 776,571 shares traded. On Tuesday, Teck said it plans to lay off 91 unionized employees from its Trail Metallurgical Operations, effective November. The problem is low zinc prices.

Noranda shed 23 to $15.91, after posting second-quarter net income of $28 million (or 9 per share), compared with year-ago earnings of $84 million (33 per share). Revenue between the two periods fell to $1.64 billion from $1.87 billion.

Copper producer Aur Resources lost a nickel to $2.60. On Monday, the company posted second-quarter net earnings of US8 million (8 per share) on mining revenue of US$57.3 million, compared with year-ago earnings of US$434,000 (1 per share) on revenue of US$17.8 million.

Most of the other base metal miners performed about as well. Swimming against the current were Inco, up 14 to $25.74, Alcan, which gained 20 Alcan to $57.55 and Boliden, up half a penny to 30.5.

Late day bargain hunter helped Canada’s junior exchange erase early day losses. The Canadian Venture Exchange tacked on 8.88 points, or 0.3% to finish the day at 3,063.01. The Mining Index followed suit climbing 16.61 points, or 0.2% to close at 7,321.46.

Shares in Chilean Gold lost 8 cents to 42 cents on a volume of 321,000 shares. In January, the company announced that the drill sites were ready for an up coming reverse circulation program on the La Carnanchaca and Los Colores copper properties in northern Chile.

The results from the first four holes into the Lupita zone on the Tambor gold property in Guatemala failed to lift shares in Radius Explorations. Despite hitting broad zones of 1-to-2 grams gold per tonne, stock in the Simon-Ridgway-led junior lost 2 cents to $1.08 on 258,000 shares.

Investors continued to sell-off shares in Kenrich Mining following news that the company would not enter the oil & gas business. The company lost a penny to close at 4 cents on 190,000 shares. The junior holds ground near the Eskay Creek polymetallic mine in British Columbia.

Rich Minerals tacked on 4 cents to close at 24 cents on 177,000 shares. The junior recently formed Rich Mining, a U.S. corporation, as a wholly owned subsidiary. Rich Mining is mandated to develop national and international exploration and mining operations.