The Jan. 19-25 trading period was one many investors in U.S.-listed equities probably would like to forget. The Dow Jones industrial average sank 528.57 points or 4.93% to finish at 10,196.86, while the S&P 500 index lost 53.45 points or 4.65% to close at 1,096.78.
Gold prices dropped US$40.50 per oz. from their New York close of US$1,137.60 per oz. on Jan. 19 to US$1097.10 per oz. on Jan. 25. The Amex Gold Bugs index slid 44.82 points or 10.12% to finish at 398.04, while the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index lost 16.66 points or 9.58% to close at 157.24. The gold majors seem to have fared the worst. Freeport Mc-MoRan Copper & Gold sank US$9.70 per share to close at US$74.60, despite posting strong financial results for 2009. On Jan. 21, the company reported net income of US$2.5 billion, or US$5.86 per share last year, compared with a net loss of US$11.3 billion or US$29.72 per share in 2008.
By contrast, several penny gold stocks posted decent gains. Amazon GoldSands, an exploration company with properties in the Manseriche and Condercanqui gold camps along the Rio Maranon in northeastern Peru, jumped 25% to 20¢ per share on no news. Patriot Gold, focused on exploration in Nevada, rose 16.6% to 21¢, also on no news, while Radius Gold gained 16.2% to 43¢ per share after releasing details of its ambitious 2010 exploration program. On Jan. 19, the junior’s president, Simon Ridgway, asserted that the company has “two potential production scenarios” developing from gold discoveries in Guatemala (Tambor) and Nicaragua (Pavon). Radius will also begin definition drilling at its Nueva California project in Peru.
Rio Tinto tumbled US$23.73 per share to US$209.90 despite posting a positive operations review for the fourth quarter and all of 2009. On Jan. 14, the mining giant said continuing high demand from China had resulted in a strong quarter for iron ore production, which was up 49% over the year-earlier quarter. Mined copper production was up 36% year-on-year, while Australian thermal coal production was up 5% year-on-year. On the negative side of the ledger, Australian hard coking coal production was down 2% over the year-earlier quarter, while uranium production sank 20% due to lower grades.
| U.S. most active issues | ||||
| VOLUME | WEEK | |||
| (000s) HIGH | LOW | CLOSE | CHANGE | |
| Alcoa* AA | 267951 15.82 | 13.31 | 13.39 | -2.24 |
| Freeport McMo*FCX | 109106 84.79 | 72.55 | 74.60 | -9.70 |
| Hecla Mining* HL | 77999 6.35 | 5.12 | 5.16 | -1.00 |
| Barrick Gold* ABX | 75301 39.72 | 36.04 | 36.04 | -3.66 |
| Goldcorp* GG | 59157 40.36 | 36.21 | 36.21 | -3.44 |
| Newmont Mng* NEM | 54587 48.49 | 43.86 | 44.13 | -3.48 |
| Silver Wheatn* SLW | 51189 17.17 | 14.35 | 14.73 | -2.42 |
| Gold Fields* GFI | 37613 13.39 | 11.91 | 12.39 | -0.87 |
| Kinross Gold* KGC | 35165 19.32 | 17.29 | 17.39 | -1.92 |
| Potash C Sask* POT | 32523 116.70 | 108.59 | 109.90 | -5.39 |
| U.S. greatest percentage change | ||||||
| VOLUME | WEEK | |||||
| (000s) | HIGH | LOW | CLOSE | CHANGE | ||
| Amazon Goldsd* | AZNG | 26 | 0.23 | 0.20 | 0.20 | + 25.0 |
| NWT Uranium* | NWURF | 318 | 0.17 | 0.11 | 0.15 | + 25.0 |
| El Capitan Pr* | ECPN | 1506 | 0.18 | 0.14 | 0.17 | + 21.4 |
| Tanz Roy Exp* | TRE | 3829 | 4.86 | 3.84 | 4.71 | + 17.1 |
| Patriot Gold* | PGOL | 127 | 0.23 | 0.17 | 0.21 | + 16.6 |
| Radius Gold* | RDUFF | 441 | 0.43 | 0.36 | 0.43 | + 16.2 |
| Elray Res* | ELRA | 158 | 0.17 | 0.15 | 0.17 | + 13.3 |
| Habanero Res* | HBNRF | 186 | 0.10 | 0.09 | 0.09 | + 12.5 |
| Argentex Mng* | AGXM | 1062 | 0.89 | 0.83 | 0.86 | + 10.2 |
| Lake Vict Mng* | LVCA | 110 | 0.60 | 0.42 | 0.54 | + 10.2 |
| Affinity Gold* | AFYG | 22 | 3.30 | 1.50 | 1.55 | -48.3 |
| Madison Minls* | MMRSF | 110 | 0.15 | 0.11 | 0.11 | -31.2 |
| Cornerstone C* | CTNXF | 109 | 0.17 | 0.13 | 0.13 | -27.7 |
| Yellowcake Mg* | YCKM | 10 | 0.03 | 0.03 | 0.03 | -25.0 |
| Legend Intl H* | LGDI | 1929 | 1.50 | 1.11 | 1.13 | -22.0 |
| Silver Std Re* | SSRI | 9734 | 23.44 | 18.54 | 18.87 | -18.5 |
| Starfield Res* | SRFDF | 346 | 0.11 | 0.09 | 0.09 | -18.1 |
| Pac Rim Minin* | PMU | 516 | 0.23 | 0.18 | 0.18 | -18.1 |
| Allied Nevada* | ANV | 546 | 15.46 | 12.37 | 12.79 | -17.2 |
| Crystallex In* | KRY | 2606 | 0.35 | 0.27 | 0.29 | -17.1 |
| U.S. greatest value change | ||||
| WEEK | ||||
| VOLUME | CLOSE | CHANGE | ||
| OM Group* | OMG | 2371860 | 36.11 | + 3.12 |
| Seabridge Gld* | SA | 2734243 | 27.38 | + 1.38 |
| Mesabi Trust* | MSB | 763508 | 15.60 | + 1.25 |
| Tanz Roy Exp* | TRE | 3829161 | 4.71 | + 0.69 |
| Argentex Mng* | AGXM | 1062348 | 0.86 | + 0.08 |
| Radius Gold* | RDUFF | 441401 | 0.43 | + 0.06 |
| Lake Vict Mng* | LVCA | 110400 | 0.54 | + 0.05 |
| Amazon Goldsd* | AZNG | 26150 | 0.20 | + 0.04 |
| Patriot Gold* | PGOL | 127126 | 0.21 | + 0.03 |
| NWT Uranium* | NWURF | 317920 | 0.15 | + 0.03 |
| Rio Tinto* | RTP | 5182257 | 209.90 | -23.73 |
| Freeport McMo* | FCX | 109106385 | 74.60 | -9.70 |
| Randgold Res* | GOLD | 5775694 | 73.87 | -7.54 |
| Cliffs Nat Rs* | CLF | 28385304 | 42.89 | -6.86 |
| Massey Energy* | MEE | 26471250 | 41.88 | -5.80 |
| ASA (Bermuda)* | ASA | 205515 | 72.76 | -5.54 |
| Potash C Sask* | POT | 32523312 | 109.90 | -5.39 |
| BHP Billi-BHP* | BHP | 24047384 | 73.93 | -5.32 |
| Agnico-Eagle* | AEM | 16301089 | 53.04 | -4.40 |
| BHP Billi-BBL* | BBL | 7031138 | 62.16 | -4.38 |
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