TSX slips 1% during the Nov. 7-11 week

The TSX Composite Index slipped during the Nov. 7- 11 trading week to 12,276.85 points, down some 131 points or 1% from the week before.

During the week, investors watched the political drama unfold in Italy and Greece as the two struggled to contain their sovereign-debt problems. In Athens, senior banker Lucas Papademos was appointed the new prime minister of an interim coalition government on Nov. 10. A day later, he swore in a new cabinet.

In Italy, Silvio Berlusconi promised to resign as premier after new economic reforms were passed. On Nov. 11, the Italian Senate approved the economic reforms demanded by the European Union, causing Berlusconi to leave his post on the following day. Economist and former European Union commissioner Mario Monti is expected lead the post-Berlusconi government.

The price of gold shot up US$34.50 per oz. to close at US$1,788.50 during the period. The Global Gold Index followed, gaining 4.56 points to end at 430.13. However, the Diversified Metals & Mining Index didn’t fare as well, dropping 88.67 points to 1,085.17.

Mariana Resources was the week’s biggest percentage gainer, gaining 36.3% to end at 15¢ on no news. The latest news that the company released contained drill results from 28 holes it completed on its Calandrias gold-silver project in Argentina. The best intercept was 40 metres carrying 1 gram gold per tonne from 8 metres, which included 1 metre of 10.8 grams gold.  

Second up was Lithium Americas, jumping 32.4% to $1.55 a share. On Nov.8, the company said it started producing at its lithium carbonate pilot plant in Lakefield, Ont. The company expects to harvest 30 kilograms of battery-grade lithium carbonate a day from the plant. Once the pilot phase is completed, Lithium Americas will ship the plant to its Cauchari-Olaroz lithium project in Argentina.  

Goldcorp was one of the biggest value gainers, moving up $2.17 to $54.48 on 13.6 million shares traded. The miner said it would pay a monthly dividend of 3.4¢ a share on Nov. 25, 2011. This marks the company’s eleventh monthly dividend for the year.

After posting better than expected third quarter results, Coeur d’Alene advanced $2.04 a share to $29.77 apiece. The company reported all-time record sales and operating cash flow for both the period and the first nine months. Quarterly sales equalled US$343.6 million, while operating cash flow was US$151 million. For the nine months, sales and operating cash flow came in at US$774.3 million and US$356.9 million, respectively. Profits for the quarter was US$31.1 million, up from a loss of US$22.6 million in the same period last year.   

Looking at the most heavily traded stocks for the week, Lundin Mining claimed the top spot with 35.3 million shares, but closed down 20¢ to $3.83 on no news. Kinross Gold trailed behind with 25.7 million shares traded, slipping 14¢ to $14.42 also on no news.