MINING MARKETS & INVESTMENT NEWS – U.S. MARKETS — New Year trading lifts miners (January 11, 1999)

With traders slowly coming back from the New Year’s holiday, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 9.79 points to close at 9,311.19 for the report period Dec. 29-Jan. 5.Although metal prices languished, investors pushed producing companies higher in modest trading. The trend bucked conventional wisdom that majors are strongly linked to swings in commodity price, and could be an indication that investors are anticipating the bottom of the cycle.Most major gold companies were up, including New York Stock Exchange-listed Newmont Mining, which closed up $1.69 to US$18.44, while gold hovered around US$286 per oz.; Homestake Mining was up 68 cents, to close at US$9.56; and Battle Mountain Gold added 50 cents to close at US$4.50.South Africa’s Anglogold rose 93 cents to close at US$20.12. Ghana’s Ashanti Goldfields added 87 cents to finish at US$9.62. On the Nasdaq, Lihir Gold vaulted $2.19 to finish the week at US$23.25, and American Stock Exchange-listed Getchell Gold increased by $1.56 to end at US$27.31.Copper companies fared well during the report period, despite a drop in the price of the red metal to US65 cents a lb. Leading the charge, New York-listed Phelps Dodge climbed US$2.13 to finish the week at US$51.94; Cyprus Amax Minerals rose $1.31 to end at US$10.56; Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold B series bounced up $1.31 to close at US$11.69.Asarco increased 38 cents to US$15.50, and 54%-owned subsidiary, Southern Peru Copper, rose 56 cents to US$9.50. Australia’s Broken Hill Proprietary gained 62 cents to finish at US$14.81.