Stock markets in the U.S. were little-changed over the holiday-shortened trading period July 3-9. Over four trading days, the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed a 1% gain, to 9,096.09 points, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 was up only 4.74 points, to 952.83 points.
The mining stocks were generally strong, though, as most of the pain was dealt out to telecommunications and financial services stocks. Big base metal miner Phelps Dodge was among the few that fell back, giving up US$1.02 to close at US$40.47, but other base metal producers were up modestly: Southern Peru Copper added US21 to finish at US$15, and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold was US85 higher at US$18.22.
The Big Three overseas miners all made strong gains: Rio Tinto was up US$3.34 at US$77.25, BHP Billiton rose US89 to US$12.60, and Anglo American tacked on US$1.13, closing at US$17.60.
The golds were all stronger, as the yellow metal rebounded after some end-of-week selling. Newmont Mining took on US$3.49, finishing the period at US$28.62, and the South Africans all closed higher: AngloGold added US$3.75 to finish at US$28.79, Gold Fields was US$2.31 better at US$13.78, Harmony Gold Mining rose US$2.98 to US$16.73, and Durban Roodepoort Deeps was up US71 to US$4.49, for an impressive 19% gain.
Despite improvements in prices for the white goods, Stillwater Mining continued its slide, falling US45 to finish at US$14.
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