Toronto Stock Exchange July 11-17

Stock markets around the world pulled back substantially during the July 11-17 report period as open warfare erupted on July 12 between Israel and terrorist groups Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Oil and gold investors were some of the chief beneficiaries of the violence, with NYMEX crude futures topping US$76 per barrel before retreating below US$74 at presstime, and spot gold surging more than US$40 to US$663.25 per oz. on July 14 before pulling back below US$650 per oz.

However, the higher oil and gold prices weren’t enough to lift the resource-heavy Toronto Stock Exchange: the S&P-TSX Composite Index dropped 174.11 points over the period to 11,480.62; the gold index slipped 6.88 points to 291.54; and the diversified miners index eased off 1.77 points to 517.39.

Falconbridge perched atop the most-active list, rising $2.80 to $61.50 as rival bidders Xstrata and Inco both upped their previous offers for Canada’s largest mining company. Xstrata boosted its all-cash offer for the 80% of Falconbridge it doesn’t yet own to $59.00 per share from $52.50, while Inco’s implied share and cash offer for Falco was goosed up to $63.43.

Punters betting that Aquiline Resources would win its suit against IMA Exploration had a long wait, but the payoff was sweet: After the B.C. courts ruled that Aquiline and not IMA owns the spectacular Navidad silver discovery in Argentina, Aquiline shares exploded, closing the period up $2.51 to $5.11 after touching an all-time high of $6.40 in the first hours of trading following the decision.

Stability is always so elusive for Saskatoon, Sask.-based Centerra Gold; the miner reported a large pit-wall slide at its Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgyzstan. Preliminary estimates are that the mine’s output this year will fall to 300,000 oz. gold at a cash cost of US$530 per oz. from a previously anticipated 415,000 oz. gold at a cash cost of US$375 per oz. While Centerra shares closed the period at $12.60, they quickly fell to $11.81 in afternoon trading on July 18, after news of the pit failure was released. Uranium miner Cameco, which owns 53% of Centerra, similarly dropped 31 to $43.81 on the news.

But the period’s biggest percentage loser was Rex Diamond, which tumbled 27% to a measly 8 — well off its peak above $10.00 around the turn of the millennium. On May 29, the TSX granted the company 120 days to regain compliance with its listing requirements under the remedial review process. In February 2005, charges were filed in South Africa against the former directors and an officer of the Rex subsidiary that operated the Loxton mine in South Africa, including Rex’s chief financial officer, Ben Holemans. Rex says the charges allege that misrepresentations were made to mine employees between August 2003 and July 2004 regarding contributions made towards the pension and provident funds established for the employees.

TSX greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Aquiline Res	AQI	3967	6.40	2.52	5.11	+96.5
Yukon Gold	YK	39	1.45	1.35	1.37	+37.0
HMZ Metals wt	HMZ.WT	142	0.02	0.015	0.02	+33.3
Ascendant Copp	ACX	98	0.62	0.58	0.60	+13.2
Minieres duNrd	MDN	336	0.55	0.47	0.53	+12.7
Corona Gold	CRG	19	0.45	0.42	0.45	+12.5
Imperial Metal	III	106	9.74	8.20	9.01	+11.9
South Am Gld&C	SAG	1115	0.05	0.045	0.05	+11.1
Contact Diam	CO	42	0.40	0.36	0.40	+11.1
Far West Mng	FWM	109	4.15	3.37	4.05	+10.9
Rex Diamond	RXD	237	0.10	0.065	0.08	-27.2
Canadn Zinc	CZN	3919	0.80	0.58	0.61	-20.7
Diamond Fields	DFI	906	0.145	0.11	0.115	-20.6
Northgate M wt	NGX.WT	428	1.45	1.05	1.11	-19.5
Uranium Prt wt	U.WT	80	2.89	2.20	2.20	-19.4
Northgate wtA	NGX.WT.A	148	1.45	1.06	1.10	-19.1
Southern Star	SSR	326	4.00	3.20	3.20	-19.1
Intrepid Mnrl	IAU	676	1.42	1.05	1.05	-17.9
Sulliden Expl	SUE	332	0.98	0.80	0.82	-17.1
Nevsun Res Wt	NSU.WT	39	1.36	1.15	1.16	-17.1

TSX greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
ISh COMEX G Tr	IGT	34500	72.51	+2.96
Falconbridge	FAL	41101015	61.50	+2.80
Aquiline Res	AQI	3967359	5.11	+2.51
Inco wt	N.WT	46704	45.42	+2.37
Inco Ltd	N	15686248	75.65	+2.27
Central Gold-T	GTU.UN	37667	27.50	+1.50
Royal Gold	RGL	18730	32.00	+1.10
Imperial Metal	III	106149	9.01	+0.96
Skye Res	SKR	738003	9.74	+0.94
Labdr I-Ore Ro	LIF.UN	522166	24.57	+0.87
Alcan	AL	6587929	49.11	-4.91
Fording C C T	FDG.UN	963950	32.45	-2.77
Lundin Mng	LUN	199150	29.05	-2.69
First Quantum	FM	1467674	50.13	-2.37
Glamis Gold	GLG	3228171	40.36	-1.70
Major Drilling	MDI	207610	20.78	-1.63
Aber Diamond	ABZ	667992	35.77	-1.63
Goldcorp	G	14062754	32.27	-1.57
Potash Cp Sask	POT	843390	94.09	-1.43
Russell Metals	RUS	597828	24.85	-1.25

TSX most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Falconbridge	FAL	41101	62.00	59.15	61.50	+2.80
EuroZinc Mng	EZM	34000	3.05	2.79	2.80	+0.05
Bema Gold	BGO	24497	6.16	5.77	5.78	+0.07
Kinross Gold	K	17860	13.37	12.23	12.30	+0.03
Inco Ltd	N	15686	77.05	73.00	75.65	+2.27
Goldcorp	G	14063	35.66	32.27	32.27	-1.57
Breakwater Res	BWR	13754	1.44	1.22	1.24	-0.03
Barrick Gold	ABX	13687	35.28	33.09	33.52	-0.35
Equinox Minls	EQN	11684	1.31	1.12	1.14	-0.15
LionOre Mng In	LIM	11201	6.71	6.13	6.26	-0.24