Toronto Stock Exchange Oct. 23-29

The TSX Composite Index climbed 383.75 points to 14,427.35 for the Oct. 23-29 trading period. Along with higher oil and metal prices, the advance was fuelled by investor belief that the Federal Reserve Bank will lower interest rates to boost the U.S. economy.

The price of gold continued to climb, surging another US$37.25 to US$788.50 per oz. Those gains helped bolster the Global Gold Index by almost 20 points as it finished at 321.17. Silver also had a strong session, breaking through the US$14-mark and finishing at US$14.41 per oz.

Yamana Gold and Kinross Gold took their usual posts as the most actively traded of the gold miners, moving roughly 50 million and 36 million shares, respectively. Yamana finished the period at $14.27 while Kinross was at $18.30.

Fellow gold miner Barrick Gold went on a spending spree that had it in the headlines for the period. Less than a week after announcing it was buying the Kainantu gold mine and exploration ground in Papua New Guinea, it tabled an all-cash offer for Arizona Star Resource, which owns a majority stake in the Cerro Casale copper-gold project in Chile. Barrick is offering $18 per share — a 27% premium over Arizona Star’s 20-day volume-weighted average trading price.

As for the base metal camp, it also had a strong period led by gains in the price of copper, tin and lead. Aluminum, nickel and zinc prices held their value or gained slightly. The better prices moved the Capped Metals and Mining Index up to 942.61 — a 68.18-point gain.

The period’s most popular miner, Eastern Platinum, was up 36 to $2.92 on nearly 70 million shares traded. The Vancouver-based company announced infill drilling at the Kareespruit section of the Crocodile River mine in South Africa is 75% complete. The company is aiming to upgrade the indicated and inferred resource on the property for a prefeasibility study.

Uranium exploration junior Forsys Metals was the period’s biggest gainer by percentage as it surged nearly 58% to $4.68. The company, with its flagship uranium project sitting near Rio Tinto’s long-producing Rossing mine in Namibia, finally had a strong upturn after trading as high as $10 per share in the spring. The company announced the appointment of two experienced mining executives to its board.

High-grade results from Anaconda Mining’s San Gabriel project in Chile helped propel the Toronto-based company up the market 45% to $1.09. Drilling was highlighted by a 62-metre interval grading 42% iron.

Constellation Copper endured the largest loss by percentage as it fell 36% to 35 for the period on no news. The company has been dogged by its inability to meet production targets laid out in a feasibility study for its Lisbon Valley mine in Utah.

TSX greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Kinross Gld wt	K_T	5798	1.17	0.51	1.10	+	100.0
Forsys Metals	FSY	3507	4.75	3.00	4.68	+	57.5
Anaconda Mng	ANX	2097	1.09	0.74	1.09	+	45.3
Campbell Res	CCH	16315	0.20	0.145	0.20	+	37.9
Gold Eagle Mns	GEA	3578	8.60	6.02	8.00	+	34.4
Nevsun Res	NSU	4206	2.25	1.53	2.08	+	33.3
Silvercorp Mtl	SVM	977	23.34	7.80	8.33	+	30.9
Canadn Royalts	CZZ	4090	3.86	2.96	3.79	+	29.3
Capital Gold	CGC	2985	0.63	0.44	0.58	+	28.8
WGI Heavy Mnl	WG	27	0.90	0.75	0.90	+	28.5
Constel Copper	CCU	19898	0.55	0.335	0.345	–	36.1
Pure Diam Expl	PUG	1896	0.16	0.125	0.13	–	21.2
Moneta Porcpn	ME	959	0.12	0.095	0.11	–	15.3
Peregrine Diam	PGD	463	1.25	0.90	1.00	–	13.0
Cline Mng	CMK	567	0.285	0.205	0.24	–	11.1
South Am Gld&C	SAG	2557	0.05	0.04	0.04	–	11.1
Glencairn G wt	GGG_T	444	0.045	0.025	0.04	–	11.1
Horizns G Bear	HGD	845	15.18	13.11	13.45	–	11.1
Caledonia Mng	CAL	1971	0.14	0.125	0.125	–	10.7
Hillsborough	HLB	622	0.59	0.49	0.51	–	10.5

TSX greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE		CHANGE
Potash Cp Sask	POT	7443452	115.83	+	10.69
Inmet Mining	IMN	1726834	104.05	+	10.09
First Quantum	FM	1916847	99.00	+	8.00
Cameco Corp	CCO	11063576	49.20	+	5.37
Agrium	AGU	4430480	58.58	+	5.09
FNX Mining	FNX	3949825	37.25	+	4.57
Silver Std Res	SSO	383494	39.87	+	4.25
Major Drilling	MDI	511497	61.00	+	3.50
Royal Gold	RGL	17161	33.00	+	3.10
Horizns G Bull	HGU	771376	26.83	+	2.89
Alcan	AL	5872059	96.07	–	2.78
Horizns G Bear	HGD	845211	13.45	–	1.68
Aber Diamond	ABZ	519639	40.30	–	1.59
North Am En Pa	NOA	10350	17.33	–	0.79
Intl Minls Crp	IMZ	729322	5.19	–	0.30
Fortune Mnrls	FT	823780	2.30	–	0.20
Constel Copper	CCU	19897791	0.345	–	0.195
Birch Mountn	BMD	492733	1.48	–	0.17
Gammon Gold	GAM	3072928	9.05	–	0.16
Golden Star	GSC	7923768	3.52	–	0.16

TSX most active issues

Uranium One

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Eastern Platin	ELR	69642	2.97	2.59	2.92	+	0.36
Yamana Gold	YRI	50711	14.44	13.03	14.27	+	1.08
Breakwater Res	BWR	38207	2.93	2.72	2.92	+	0.27
Kinross Gold	K	36435	18.45	16.21	18.30	+	1.96
Paladin Res	PDN	30340	7.15	6.40	7.10	+	0.79
UUU	25912	12.95	11.13	12.95	+	1.78
Tiomin Res	TIO	20293	0.135	0.105	0.115	+	0.005
Constel Copper	CCU	19898	0.55	0.335	0.345	–	0.195
Goldcorp	G	18856	32.96	30.19	32.87	+	2.49
Campbell Res	CCH	16315	0.20	0.145	0.20	+	0.055