The Dow Jones industrial average was off 447 points, or 5%, for the report period July 29-Aug. 4, after a precipitous drop of nearly 300 points on Aug.
4. The average closed at 8,487.31 points, led by the fall of blue chip stocks.
Uncertainty in the broader market sparked a mini-rally in the gold price on Aug. 4, sending producers of the yellow metal incrementally higher. Yet generally lower commodity prices kept a lid on mining issues.
On the New York Stock Exchange, Newmont Mining showed an increase of 81 cents on Aug. 4, the day of the big sell-off, though, over the entire week, shares were off $1.88 to close at US$18.69. Newmont Gold was off $1.88 for the week as well, closing at US$19.44.
Also on the NYSE, Ashanti Goldfields finished the week up 50 cents to close at US$7.31 on the strength of second-quarter earnings. Homestake Mining, meanwhile, climbed 19 cents to close at US$10.62, while Battle Mountain Gold slipped 56 cents to close at US$4.62. The latter reported a second-quarter loss, though, on a bright note, resources at the Battle Mountain gold complex in Nevada were boosted by half a million ounces.
Copper producers fell during the week, headed up by Phelps Dodge, which shed $1.68 to close at US$54.25; shares of Asarco lost a quarter to finish the week at US$21.38; Cyprus Amax Minerals slid 38 cents to US$12.12; and Peru’s Buenaventura dropped $1.19 to finish the week at US$10.94.
Class B shares of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold were off $1.12 to close at US$14.38; Class A shares were off 25 cents at US$13.94.
On the American Stock Exchange, Stillwater Mining lost $2.12 for the week to close at US$27.06 in response to lower platinum and palladium prices.
Be the first to comment on "MINING MARKETS & INVESTMENT NEWS — U.S. MARKETS –Dow plunges 300 in a day"