U.S. Markets April 4-10

Stock markets in the United States started strongly in the reporting period April 4-10, but oil price jitters took over in the last three trading days to leave the market indices near where they started. The Standard & Poor’s 500 finished the period at 1,296.62, down 0.1%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered an even narrower loss.

Things were mostly rosy in the metals sectors, especially with gold enjoying another price rally that rested on international tension. Newmont Mining was up US$1.77 at US$52.90, Minas Buenaventura popped up US88 to US$25.95, Coeur d’Alene Mines rose US29 to US$6.66, and Hecla Mining lifted US14 to close at US$6.51. Randgold Resources touched a 52-week high of US$20.49 on its way to a close of US$20.15, up US$1.19.

The South African miners had no such luck, as AngloGold Ashanti fell US$2.58 to US$51.34, Gold Fields US66 to US$21.89, and Harmony Gold Mining US$1.03 to US$15.36. Only DRDGold bucked that trend, rising a penny to US$1.47.

In the juniors, U.S. Gold fell back from last week’s heights, sliding US$1.32 to US$8.70. There were a series of new highs among the NASDAQ and over-the-counter pennies, including Fischer-Watt Gold, which was up US2 to US9, Shoshone Silver, up US1 to US37, and Golden Phoenix Minerals, up 2 to US53.

The big base metal producers mostly advanced; Companhia Vale do Rio Doce was the exception, falling US$1.04 to US$48.23, but Rio Tinto was US$5.90 higher at US$217.90, Anglo American rose US$1.27 to US$21.27, and BHP Billiton added US$1.24 to finish at US$42.97. Southern Peru Copper touched a new high of US$93.75 on its way to a close of US$91.42, Phelps Dodge added US41 to end the period at US$84.14, and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold finished at US$62.08, up US60.

Another mining issue touching a new high was iron-ore trust unit Mesabi Trust, which rose US$1.52 to US$24.70.

U.S. greatest percentage change

		Volume(000s)	High	Low	Close	Change
New Jersey Mg*	NJMC	472	0.75	0.49	0.71	+57.7
Pac Gold*	PCFG	6021	0.49	0.33	0.49	+45.4
Tara Gold*	TRGD	5371	0.43	0.26	0.42	+44.8
Fronteer Dev*	FRG	5389	6.43	4.68	6.28	+41.1
Vista Gold*	VGZ	877	7.75	6.15	7.72	+30.8
Crystallex In*	KRY	26366	6.25	4.24	5.66	+30.7
Polymet Mng*	POMGF	2640	3.503	2.61	3.41	+29.1
Taseko Mines*	TGB	4660	2.84	2.21	2.84	+26.7
Corriente Rs*	ETQ	380	5.70	4.65	5.65	+24.7
Gold Reserve*	GRZ	1316	8.05	5.91	7.70	+24.6
AuGrid*	AUGC	22979	0.002	0.001	0.001	-50.0
Cream Mnrls*	CRMXF	171	1.01	0.469	0.51	-31.0
Brookmount Ex*	BMXI	340	0.19	0.14	0.15	-25.0
Magnus Intl R*	MGNU	2201	3.18	2.31	2.73	-14.1
Savoy Res*	SVYR	1092	0.045	0.038	0.038	-13.6
US Gold*	USGL	2158	10.15	8.65	8.70	-13.1
McKenzie Bay*	MKBY	842	0.82	0.671	0.675	-12.3
Golden Eagle*	MYNG	7644	0.03	0.026	0.027	-10.0
Douglas Lk Ml*	DLKM	113	2.58	2.20	2.35	-9.6
Silverado*	SLGLF	15262	0.151	0.131	0.135	-8.7

U.S. greatest value change

		volume	close	change
Rio Tinto*	RTP	1414800	217.90	+5.90
Southern Peru*	PCU	6046800	91.42	+5.82
Cleveland-Cli*	CLF	2637800	90.35	+4.15
Kerr McGee*	KMG	5595600	101.65	+3.93
Alcan*	AL	7197300	50.49	+3.33
Arch Coal*	ACI	5062800	78.78	+3.08
OM Group*	OMG	2754600	26.65	+2.82
Lihir Gold*	LIHRY	360911	41.45	+2.79
CONSOL Energy*	CNX	5288900	79.54	+2.46
Westmoreland*	WLB	97600	29.20	+2.20
AngloGold Ash*	AU	7275700	51.34	-2.58
Soc Quim&M Ch*	SQM	104000	111.02	-1.38
US Gold*	USGL	2158144	8.70	-1.32
CVRD*	RIO	9880000	48.23	-1.04
Harmony Gold*	HMY	8054300	15.36	-1.03
Pan Am Silver*	PAAS	8227251	24.06	-0.94
ASA (Bermuda)*	ASA	283500	65.60	-0.68
Banro Res*	BAA	28300	10.81	-0.67
Gold Fields*	GFI	9304800	21.89	-0.66
Gammon Lk Res*	GRS	694300	17.20	-0.60

U.S. most active issues

		Volume(000s)	High	Low	Close	Change
UNICO Inc*	UNCN	1040460	0.002	0.001	0.002	0.00
Alcoa*	AA	28173	33.03	30.64	32.83	+1.93
Crystallex In*	KRY	26366	6.25	4.24	5.66	+1.33
Newmont Mng*	NEM	25309	54.48	50.64	52.90	+1.77
Coeur d Alene*	CDE	24007	6.90	6.26	6.66	+0.29
Goldspring*	GSPG	23221	0.02	0.015	0.016	+0.001
AuGrid*	AUGC	22979	0.002	0.001	0.001	-0.001
Barrick Gold*	ABX	18432	29.91	27.76	29.39	+1.65
DRDGOLD*	DROOY	17842	1.62	1.44	1.47	+0.01
Phelps Dodge*	PD	16122	88.97	82.70	84.14	+0.41