Trading Summary (August 24, 2001)

After a week of anxiety and nail-biting declines, North American markets staged a strong rally on Friday morning, and upward movement only gained in strength as the day progressed.

The optimism was triggered by good news from tech heavyweight Cisco Systems, which reported that its current quarter is matching expectations and that its overall networking business is stabilizing. As well, Microsoft announced that its new flagship product Windows XP is complete and will not be face any delays in its launch.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.9% on the day to 10423.17 points, the Nasdaq index zoomed 4% to 1916.80 points while the S&P 500 index rose almost 2% to 1184.93 points.

In Canada, the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 index matched the fever south of the border, popping up 1.16% to 7629.96 points. Embattled giant Nortel Networks rose 60 cents to $10.88 and topped the most-active list.

The precious metals experienced their usual see-saw relationship with the larger market. Gold dropped almost US$3 on the day to close at US$272.30 per oz. in New York trading, silver dropped US3 cents to US$4.18 per oz. and platinum was off US$9 to US447 per oz.

The TSE Gold & Precious Minerals subindex fell 0.14% to 4889.33 points and ranked as only one of three declining subindices. The majors traded sideways: Barrick Gold rose four pennies to $25.90, Placer Dome was up a nickel to $17.15, Franco-Nevada Mining slipped 9 cents to $19.80, TVX Gold rose 3 cents to 69 cents and Kinross Gold was off 8 cents to $1.30.

The base-metal majors followed the larger market trend, and the TSE’s Metals & Minerals subindex rocketed 3.11% to 4226.93, making this subindex the exchange’s best performer of the day.

The base metal majors posted some hefty gains on little company-specific news: Alcan advanced $1.95 to $58.40, Inco shot up $1.21 to $26.90, Noranda gained 22 cents to hit $10.62, Falconbridge was up 50 cents to $16.50 and Teck-Cominco rose 25 cents to $12.95.

Of note, Aur Resources continued to fade away from the $3 mark, dropping 15 cents on Friday to $2.30.

Canada’s junior exchange ended the trading week strong led by a 1.6% surge in mining-related issues. The Canadian Venture Exchange tacked on 23.94 points, or 0.8% to finish the day at 3,074.95. The Mining Index posted stellar gains ending the week at a session high, up 115.54 points, or 1.6% to 7,559.23.

California-based Conquistador Mines continued to lead the most actively traded list among junior explorers. The cash-strapped company hit a 52-week low following news that it has been unable to attain financing for its Colombian operations and as a result, a liquidator has been appointed to attend to the dissolution of Corona Goldfields. The company does not expect to receive any proceeds from the liquidation. Stock in the junior ended the week at 1 cent on 557,000 shares.

Sultan Minerals continued to attract some interest after announcing a proposed $150,000 financing aimed at expanding the drill program over the Kena gold property near Nelson, B.C. The company ended the day at 23, up 1 on 377,000 shares.

A big percentage loser, Olympus Pacific Minerals dropped 5 cents to end the week at 33 cents on 127,000 shares. The company recently announced a $2.9 million financing comprising 9 million units at 32 cents each. The funds will be used to continue drilling the Phuoc Son gold project in Vietnam.

Kelowna-based Cantex Mine Development lost 1 cent to 8 cents on 71,000 shares. The Charles Fipke-led company tabled an update on its geochemical activities over the Wadi Qutabah nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum-palladium prospect in Yemen.