U.S. Markets december 19-20

The decline of the U.S. dollar prompted the government of Thailand to make foreign investment reforms that caused sudden market turmoil on Dec. 19 — reminiscent for some investors of the 1997 Asian economic crisis, which started in Thailand.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) took a 1-day plunge of 15% on the same day, after the military government announced restrictions on foreign investment to slow down the rising baht, which had reached a 9-year high of 35.09 per U.S. dollar the previous day.

The restrictions were partially lifted, but not before the SET lost a record US$22.9 billion.

Other markets across Southeast Asia saw drops of 2-3% as a result.

The SET recovered Wednesday, closing up 11.2% from Tuesday’s drop, but some analysts say that even though the market has recovered, Thailand’s standing with the international investor community was hurt. The current government ousted the former democratically elected government in a bloodless coup in September, and is still trying to mend the country’s image.

The markets were a little quieter back in the U.S. on Dec. 19 and 20, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 12,463.87 points on Dec. 20 after reaching 12,471.32 the day before. That was the Dow’s 21st record close since October.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index also rose 1.05 points over the 2-day trading period, closing at 1,423.53, but the NASDAQ dropped 7.96, closing at 2,427.61.

Big gold companies saw some movement. Newmont Mining, on trading volume of 6.8 million shares, closed at US$45.88 after a US69 drop. Gold Fields, also on the list with volume of 4.6 million shares traded, was up to US55 closing at US$45.52, while AngloGold Ashanti had a 15 shave to close at US$45.52.

Of the big metal miners, Rio Tinto was down US$1.61, closing at 213.14 and Phelps Dodge slid US86 to US$120.7, while Anglo American inched up US9 to US$24.03.

As for coal, Peabody Energy, busy with volume of nearly 7 million shares traded, fell US56 to US$42.17 and Massey Energy declined US22 to US$24.33.

U.S. greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Michigan Gold*	MGGV	415	0.007	0.005	0.007	+40.0
Silverado*	SLGLF	39504	0.128	0.066	0.095	+35.7
Northw Min Vt*	NWTMF	1295	0.645	0.49	0.62	+23.7
Exeter Res*	XRA	230	2.08	1.60	1.99	+22.0
Lafayette Mng*	LYMGF	15	0.06	0.06	0.06	+20.0
Taseko Mines*	TGB	1122	2.98	2.57	2.83	+12.7
Queenstake Rs*	QEE	1517	0.20	0.18	0.20	+11.1
Northgate Mnl*	NXG	1834	3.44	3.10	3.41	+10.0
Starfield Res*	SRFDF	356	0.248	0.22	0.231	+10.0
Capital Gold*	CGLD	1563	0.41	0.37	0.40	+9.5
Centrl Minera*	CENMF	305	0.09	0.05	0.05	-44.4
McKenzie Bay*	MKBY	1346	0.21	0.13	0.14	-31.7
Mountain Prov*	MDM	87	3.95	2.89	3.06	-22.7
Golden Eagle*	MYNG	8318	0.011	0.009	0.009	-18.1
Coral Gold*	CGREF	70	3.00	2.50	2.55	-14.7
World Vent*	WVNTF	38	0.15	0.12	0.12	-14.2
El Capitan Pr*	ECPN	631	1.09	0.88	0.90	-11.7
Apolo Gold*	APLL	640	0.067	0.055	0.06	-10.4
Geocom Res*	GOCM	43	0.25	0.225	0.225	-10.0
Samex Mng*	SMXMF	488	0.68	0.56	0.62	-8.8

U.S. greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Potash C Sask*	POT	1598400	140.70	+6.03
Soc Quim&M Ch*	SQM	91300	139.54	+2.54
Royal Gold*	RGLD	639529	35.32	+1.54
Silver Std Re*	SSRI	780060	30.70	+1.05
Cleveland-Cli*	CLF	1189100	46.45	+1.00
ASA (Bermuda)*	ASA	80000	63.65	+0.90
NACCO Ind*	NC	15400	142.11	+0.89
Mesabi Trust*	MSB	24700	25.97	+0.66
Agnico-Eagle*	AEM	2479200	41.15	+0.60
Cameco Corp*	CCJ	2325700	40.31	+0.59
Southern Peru*	PCU	2649400	54.69	-2.73
Teck Comin B*	TCK	219200	75.95	-1.92
Rio Tinto*	RTP	373100	213.14	-1.61
Mountain Prov*	MDM	86600	3.06	-0.90
Phelps Dodge*	PD	3437100	120.79	-0.86
Newmont Mng*	NEM	6806200	45.88	-0.69
Foundatn Coal*	FCL	701100	33.00	-0.58
Buenaventura*	BVN	614600	26.81	-0.57
Peabody Enrgy*	BTU	6987300	41.61	-0.56
Coral Gold*	CGREF	70010	2.55	-0.44

U.S. most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Silverado*	SLGLF	39504	0.128	0.066	0.095	+0.025
Golden Eagle*	MYNG	8318	0.011	0.009	0.009	-0.002
CVRD*	RIO	8157	29.53	28.54	29.06	-0.04
Goldcorp*	GG	7596	28.51	27.60	27.60	+0.15
Peabody Enrgy*	BTU	6987	43.35	41.20	41.61	-0.56
Newmont Mng*	NEM	6806	47.26	45.73	45.88	-0.69
Alcoa*	AA	5754	30.62	29.90	30.04	-0.38
Freeport McMo*	FCX	5275	60.25	57.99	58.38	-0.37
Barrick Gold*	ABX	4631	30.76	30.18	30.21	+0.03
Gold Fields*	GFI	4567	18.80	18.08	18.47	+0.55