Toronto Stock Exchange trading June 5-11

The TSX Composite Index lost ground for the June 5-11 period, shedding 313.92 points as global equity markets cooled on indications that interest rates may be on the rise to combat inflation.

The fears also led to a weaker gold price — the metal fell US$20.80 to US$650.30 per oz. — as bond yields rose in conjunction with rate hike worries. The move downward took the Global Gold Index along for the ride, as it fell 4% to 271.40.

The Capped Metals and Mining Index managed to hold value better than its cousins in the gold index. The diversified miners inched downward to 824.90 points by just 0.86 of a point, reflecting small losses in copper, nickel, lead, zinc and aluminum prices. The price of tin climbed to US$6.44 per lb. over the trading session.

News that Dynatec shareholders approve of Sherritt International’s takeover offer for the Toronto-based company made it the most actively traded miner for the period. Nearly 35 million Dynatec shares traded hands, but the company’s share price dipped 34 to $4.84. Dynatec shareholders will receive 0.19 of a Sherritt share and 0.0635 of an FNX Mining share for each Dynatec share.

Next on the most-active list was LionOre Mining International. The nickel miner announced it was terminating its recommendation of Xstrata’s takeover offer in favour of a superior bid from Norilsk Nickel. Russian nickel giant Norilsk beat Xstrata’s $25.00-per-share offer with a bid of $27.50 a share. LionOre will pay Xstrata a break fee of $305 million, as part of an earlier agreement.

SXR Uranium One rounded off the top-three most-active miners for the week. The company announced it was acquiring Energy Metals, on the basis of 1.15 of its shares for each share of Energy Metals. The transaction values Energy Metals shares at $19.12 apiece.

Brazilian Diamonds was the period’s largest gainer by percentage. Shares in the Vancouver-based company shot up 40% to 21 after it announced it was preparing to transport its diamond processing plant to its Salvador 1 kimberlite project.

Aquiline Resources moved up nearly 20% to $11.00 after the British Columbia Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal launched by Venture-listed IMA Exploration of a July 2006 judgement that granted the Navidad silver property to Aquiline. IMA shares tumbled 51%, once the disputed Argentinean property was deemed securely in Aquiline’s hands.

Ascendant Copper continued its freefall, losing 27% or 40 for the period. Drill results from its Junin project in Ecuador showed discrepancies between historical drilling — done in the 1990s — and current results. Previous drilling returned both higher and lower grades than indicated by the recent program. Earlier in the month, the company released results from its Chaucha copper-molybdenum property, which also failed to impress the market.

TSX greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Brazilian Diam	BDY	321	0.23	0.20	0.21	+	40.0
Thundermin Res	THR	1260	0.145	0.11	0.135	+	22.7
Aquiline Res	AQI	2079	11.45	9.25	11.00	+	19.7
Africo Res	ARL	680	2.25	1.80	2.14	+	19.5
Zaruma Res	ZMR	2060	0.15	0.12	0.14	+	16.6
Opawica Expl	OPW	7759	0.125	0.09	0.115	+	15.0
African Copper	ACU	1539	1.82	1.58	1.80	+	14.6
Sterlite Gold	SGD	46	0.24	0.10	0.24	+	14.2
Ivernia	IVW	2702	1.58	1.31	1.43	+	13.4
West Timmins M	WTM	1983	0.82	0.68	0.76	+	13.4
Ascendant C wt	ACX_T	657	0.08	0.05	0.05	–	37.5
Ascendant Copp	ACX	973	0.58	0.35	0.40	–	27.2
Carlisle Goldf	CGJ	56	0.26	0.23	0.23	–	20.6
Franc-Or Res	FOR	100	0.31	0.27	0.27	–	20.5
European Ml wt	EPM_T	89	0.50	0.335	0.39	–	18.7
Fortune Mnrls	FT	66	3.79	3.25	3.29	–	15.6
Globestar Mng	GMI	1191	2.14	1.80	1.81	–	15.4
Grande Cache C	GCE	1125	1.15	0.95	0.98	–	14.7
Sierra Minls	SIM	86	0.345	0.30	0.30	–	14.2
Cardero Res	CDU	299	2.10	1.75	1.81	–	14.2

TSX greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE		CHANGE
First Quantum	FM	4528183	98.65	+	8.21
Teck Comin A	TCKA	12657	50.00	+	1.90
Aquiline Res	AQI	2078572	11.00	+	1.81
Teck Comin B	TCKB	13221339	46.61	+	1.58
Major Drilling	MDI	458411	38.00	+	1.21
Peru Copper	PCR	5509345	6.46	+	0.72
UraMin	UMN	8154630	7.75	+	0.66
Virginia Mines	VGQ	451629	6.08	+	0.63
Mercator Mnls	ML	4655992	7.40	+	0.60
Corriente Res	CTQ	642148	3.91	+	0.39
Aber Diamond	ABZ	2483744	43.47	–	3.22
FNX Mining	FNX	7751526	34.31	–	2.88
Alcan	AL	10682539	87.40	–	2.80
Royal Gold	RGL	10310	26.15	–	2.79
Cameco Corp	CCO	7929014	55.10	–	2.76
Pan Am Silv wt	PAA_T	16600	16.58	–	2.72
Pan Am Silver	PAA	931765	28.60	–	2.46
Agnico-Eagle	AEM	3820403	37.72	–	2.40
Silver Std Res	SSO	300232	38.52	–	2.20
Newmont Mng	NMC	121737	42.00	–	1.77

TSX most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Dynatec Corp	DY	34891	5.18	4.66	4.84	–	0.34
LionOre Mng In	LIM	32547	27.34	26.98	27.17	–	0.13
SXR Uranm One	SXR	31781	16.29	14.00	14.71	–	1.39
Equinox Minls	EQN	26218	3.41	3.05	3.26	–	0.07
Chariot Res	CHD	19298	1.02	0.93	0.99	–	0.01
Kinross Gold	K	18316	14.37	13.26	13.68	–	0.66
Goldcorp	G	17830	26.33	24.60	25.58	–	0.32
Breakwater Res	BWR	17492	2.56	2.38	2.54	+	0.04
Starfield Res	SRU	16256	1.25	1.11	1.23	–	0.02
Eldorado Gold	ELD	16004	6.48	5.89	5.99	–	0.40