TSX climbs for Nov. 1-5 period

The TSX Composite Index responded well to quantitative easing south of the border. The index was up 219 points for the Nov. 1-5 period, finishing at 12,944.92.

But while the second round of quantitative easing improved market sentiment, without U.S. demand picking up, pundits fear that economic growth in Canada will be difficult.

More American dollars in the system also made for a stronger Canadian dollar which hurt Canadian exporters.

Quantitative easing also had the expected effect on the price of gold as it climbed US$34 to US$1,395.50 for the period. That move carried the Global Gold Index up 11 points to 415.96.

But investors didn’t only have gold on their minds. The base metal complex also continued its strong run with the price for copper, aluminum, nickel, tin, lead and zinc all higher and the Capped Metals & Mining Index gaining 80 points to finish at 1,327.40 points.

The big news of the period was the Federal governments nixing of the BHP Billiton attempted takeover of Potash Corporation. The central government deemed potash a strategic asset, and as such sided with the province of Saskatchewan which has stood in opposition to the bid.

The Feds also played a key role in the Taseko Mines story. The company’s share price was hit hard when the government said no an open pit mine at Taseko’s Prosperity project in Central British Columbia. The government said a mine could jeopardize a nearby lake. The move overruled the provincial government’s support for the $815-million project. Local native groups have been strongly lined up against the mine. Taseko’s shares fell 28% to $4.65 for the period.

When the market is hot, as it is now for rare earth metals, sometimes all a company has to do is announce a drill program to get a lift. That was the case for Nuinsco Resources which climbed 31% for the period to finish at 17¢. The company announced it had begun a drill program at its Prairie Lake Rare Metals Project that is designed to increase the known tonnage and to better understand the project’s mineralization. The project sits 45-km northwest of Marathon, Ontario.

Staying with hot commodities, word that Great Panther Silver had expanded high grade Silver-gold-lead-zinc mineralization at its Topia Mine had the company’s shares up 28% to $1.55. The results came from 9,000 metres surface drilling and underground development. The company believes the drilling will add to its mineral reserves and thus help it increase production by 20% per year by 2012.

The drill also helped along the share prices of Goldstone Resources and Premier Gold Mines. The results came from the Premier operated Hardrock Joint Venture Project in Northwestern Ontario. Goldstone holds a 30% carried interest in the project and saw its share price rise 30% to $1.01 on the back of highlight intercepts of 7.92 grams gold over 114.5 metres and 18.49 grams gold over 20.5 metres. As for Premier, its shares rose by 19% to finish the period at $6.69.