Trading Summary (August 05, 2004)

Toronto stocks fell for a second straight day as oil surged to record prices amid renewed fears of a drop in supply from Russian giant Yukos. The exchange’s gold and technology sectors led the slide with plus-2% losses; the diversified miners chipped in with a 1.1% fall to 210.88 points. By day’s end, the S&P-TSX composite index was off 95.08 points at 8,267.88 points.

Wheaton River Minerals ended the day as the nation’s busiest miner, with just shy of 3 million shares trading their way 13, or about 4%, lower to $3.18. Wheaton recently sent a letter to hostile suitor Coeur d’Alene Mines informing that company that the Silver Wheaton spin off will proceed on Sept. 9, two weeks following the expiry of Coeur’s takeover bid, if Coeur has not succeeded in acquiring 66.67% of Wheaton by the Aug. 27 deadline.

On the other side of the four-way merger battle, Golden Star Resources‘ CEO Peter Bradford told the audience of a conference call that he expects a successful conclusion to its tender offer for all of the shares of Iamgold, despite the fact that it is currently below Iamgold’s share price. Iamgold says it plans to unveil its preferred suitor next week. The company says it has up to four candidate currently completing due diligence. Golden Star ended a quarter lower at $4.95, while Iamgold dropped 30 to $7.25.

Shares in Agnico Eagle Mines slipped 60, or 3.5%, to 16.73, despite the company’s second-quarter earnings coming in at US$8.8 million, up from a year-ago net loss of US$3.8 million.

On the plus side, Brazilian Diamonds shot up 11, or 27.5%, to 51. The company’s partner, Hidefield, recently released encouraging drill results from 7 holes on the Cata Preta gold project in Brazil. The holes targeted the northern extension of the Carvoeira deposit, and were highlighted by a 2.6-metre section running 11.2 grams gold per tonne.