What goes up must come down, at least a little, which was the case for most resource companies on U.S. markets over the report period Oct. 4-10. Copper companies gave back some of their recent gains, and with one or two exceptions, gold companies saw a few nickels and dimes shaved off their share prices.
The broad-based S&P 500 Index felt the downdraft too, shedding almost 40 points to close at 1,187.33 over the session.
The most active resource-oriented stock was aluminum giant Alcoa, which fell US$1.21 to US$22.60, even though it “beat the street” with its latest quarterly earnings of US$290 million, or US33 per diluted share. The company has come under pressure because of higher input costs and tepid car sales.
Newmont Mining took second spot on the most-active list, but managed to gain US24 to close at US$47.30. AngloGold Ashanti enjoyed a rebound after recent weakness, for a US$1.78 gain to US$43.78. Other gold companies didn’t fare as well, with Placer Dome off US9 at US$17.02 and Barrick Gold down US50 at US$28.48.
ASA (Bermuda) bounced up US$1.15 to US$47.77 on reasonable volume. The closed-end diversified company — the successor to ASA, originally organized in South Africa — invests in a portfolio of companies exploring for or mining gold, silver, platinum, diamonds or other precious minerals.
Copper producers had a mini-correction after months of steady gains, with Phelps Dodge leading the pack with a drop of US$2.79 to settle at US$126.91. Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold was down US$1.50 at US$46.72.
On the junior scene, Grand Central Silver Mines was among the top gainers, almost doubling in price to US40 on the largely unregulated “pink-sheets” market.
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