Toronto Stock Exchange (July 18-24, 2006)

Mergers in the latter part of the July 18-24 period buoyed the S&P-TSX Composite Index by 144.54 points to 11,625.16.

The minerals sector was helped by multiple mergers and strong profits for Falconbridge and Teck Cominco.

While gold had dropped as much as 11% since July 17 — pushed down by talks to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah — the yellow metal came back as the U.S. indicated that a ceasefire between the two factions was not imminent.

Gold was down $41.80 for the period to US$605.70, but rebounded to US$617 at press time. Bargain hunting jewellers and other industrial buyers were said to be playing into the metal’s rally. The gold index was off 4.8 points to 286.74.

Despite a decline in base metal prices the diversified miners were up, if only marginally, for the period. The group was ahead 5.29 points to 522.68.

Copper was recovering at presstime, however, as the possibility of a strike at BHP Billiton’s Escondida mine in Chile created worries over a further tightening of supply and demand conditions for the red metal. Copper was rising towards US$3.40 in European trading at presstime.

Heavily courted Falconbridge remained on top of the most-active list, gaining 95 to $62.45 as the company posted second-quarter profits of US$728 million — up from US$202 million in the first quarter. Falconbridge still favours the offer tabled by Inco for $64.40 a share over Xstrata’s $62.50 per share. Analysts say the price of Falconbridge’s stock suggests investors are skeptical that Inco’s offer will not receive enough support from investors.

Teck Cominco B-series shares fell 31 to $66.59 . Teck reported second-quarter earnings of $613 million, equal to $2.95 per share, thanks mainly to higher prices for copper and zinc. Teck’s A-series shares rose $1.50 to $75, partly reflecting the increased dilution of the B series following Teck’s redemption of some of its debentures and the possibility Teck may issue B shares to take over Inco.

Barrick Gold’s $1.53-billion hostile takeover bid for both NovaGold Resources and Pioneer Metals sent shares in each company soaring. Pioneer was up 50% to $1.01, while NovaGold climbed 31.2% to $17.69. Barrick’s shares were off 2.6% to $32.64 for the period, with 8.8 million shares traded.

Sulliden Exploration saw its shares rise 45% over the period, to $1.19. The company announced it had won an arbitration ruling on a transfer contract for its Shahuindo property in Peru.

Centerra Gold continued to be a big loser for the second consecutive period. As reported last week, the Toronto-based company had a large pit-wall slide at its Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgyzstan. Owing to the slide, the mine’s output will fall to 300,000 oz. from a previously anticipated 415,000 oz. Centerra was off 24.5% to $9.51.

TSX most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Falconbridge	FAL	87526	63.75	61.30	62.45	+0.95
Inco Ltd	N	24216	83.14	75.25	82.45	+6.80
LionOre Mng In	LIM	21273	6.51	5.58	5.90	-0.36
Equinox Minls	EQN	20706	1.29	1.12	1.25	+0.11
Bema Gold	BGO	20056	6.13	5.58	5.75	-0.03
Goldcorp	G	14043	33.03	30.03	31.31	-0.945
Kinross Gold	K	13592	13.03	11.78	12.64	+0.34
EuroZinc Mng	EZM	10744	2.92	2.72	2.84	+0.04
Breakwater Res	BWR	9117	1.27	1.16	1.20	-0.04
Barrick Gold	ABX	8847	33.99	31.55	32.64	-0.88

TSX greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Pioneer Metals	PSM	6078	1.04	0.62	1.01	+50.7
Sulliden Expl	SUE	2007	1.29	0.81	1.19	+45.1
NovaGold Rs wt	NG.WT	138	11.54	7.40	11.00	+42.8
NovaGold Res	NG	8566	17.88	13.11	17.69	+31.2
Pure Gld Mnr	PUG	4404	0.08	0.06	0.075	+25.0
Brazilian Diam	BDY	230	0.245	0.20	0.245	+22.5
Band-Ore Res	BAN	659	0.345	0.28	0.34	+21.4
Scandinav Mnl	SGL	182	4.00	3.60	4.00	+21.2
Inco wt	N.WT	426	52.82	46.21	52.82	+16.2
Vaaldiam Res	VAA	218	0.90	0.75	0.90	+15.3
HMZ Metals wt	HMZ.WT	16	0.015	0.015	0.015	-25.0
Centerra Gold	CG	3171	12.89	9.10	9.51	-24.5
Silver Eagle	SEG	274	1.14	0.90	0.94	-19.6
Opawica Expl	OPW	2306	0.19	0.15	0.15	-16.6
Aquiline Res	AQI	1447	5.07	4.32	4.36	-14.6
First Nickel	FNI	439	0.70	0.60	0.60	-14.2
Caledonia Mng	CAL	932	0.145	0.125	0.125	-13.7
Queenstake Rs	QRL	4386	0.415	0.355	0.355	-13.4
Gabriel Res wt	GBU.WT	32	1.27	1.00	1.05	-12.5
Caldera Res	CDR	933	0.08	0.065	0.07	-12.5

TSX greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Inco wt	N.WT	426417	52.82	+7.40
Inco Ltd	N	24216375	82.45	+6.80
Potash Cp Sask	POT	884221	99.93	+6.005
NovaGold Res	NG	8565992	17.69	+4.21
NovaGold Rs wt	NG.WT	137627	11.00	+3.30
Alcan	AL	5338474	51.35	+2.24
Dundee Bancrp	DBC.A	45726	38.50	+1.51
Teck Comin A	TCK.A	23732	75.00	+1.50
Quadra Mng	QUA	2060285	11.38	+0.98
Labdr I-Ore Ro	LIF.UN	396592	25.55	+0.98
First Quantum	FM	1226164	46.90	-3.23
Centerra Gold	CG	3171150	9.51	-3.09
ISh COMEX G Tr	IGT	27001	69.54	-2.97
Fording C C T	FDG.UN	2021715	30.14	-2.31
Newmont Mng	NMC	215771	58.32	-1.77
Meridian Gold	MNG	1614019	31.26	-1.57
Aur Res	AUR	2996137	17.30	-1.03
Glamis Gold	GLG	3423540	39.41	-0.95
Goldcorp	G	14042815	31. 31	-0.945
Central Gold-T	GTU.UN	21139	26.60	-0.90