STOCK MARKETS — Market sets record without help from mines

The Toronto Stock Exchange vaulted past its previous record high on Sept.

16, as the TSE 300 index closed the period Sept. 11-17 at 5,268.48, up 121.36 points from the week before, a gain of 2.4%. Fears of increased interest rates from the U.S. central bank subsided this week, and most North American markets saw gains.

The market got its strength from the financial, real estate and transportation sectors. Golds and base metals underperformed the market, adding 1.8% and 0.2%, respectively. TSE daily volumes were moderate to heavy, averaging just over 90 million shares.

The Canadian dollar was lower by a single basis point in terms of its U.S.

counterpart, with an exchange rate of US72.94 cents at noon on Sept. 17. The Loony and greenback both continued to rise against the yen and the major European currencies.

The City was a rough neighborhood to be in over the past five trading days, with gold bullion down as low as US$382.10 per oz. on news that the International Monetary Fund might sell gold reserves to finance debt relief for poor countries. Opposition to the sale, led by Germany, scotched the plan, and gold recovered to US$382.90 by the Sept. 17 morning fix, a loss of 25 cents on the week.

Platinum was $5 lower at US$387.75 per oz. and silver fell 4 cents to US$5.05. Palladium’s troubles continued, with the price falling $1.35 to US$122.50 per oz.

The gold and precious minerals sub-index rose 208.64 points to close trading on Sept. 17 at 11,368.95. As a measure of how little the golds contributed to the strength of the market, consider that when the TSE 300 last hit a record high, the golds were above 13,000.

Bema Gold was the most active issue on the gold board, rising 95 cents to $10.80 on a volume of 7 million shares. TVX Gold fell 5 cents to $10.25 on 5.4 million shares. Placer Dome was up $1.90 to $34 and Barrick Gold added 20 cents to close at $36.60. Franco-Nevada Mining was up $3 to $51, while sister Euro-Nevada Mining added $3.10 to close at $36.95. Rebuilding Quest International was 60 cents higher at $2.

Pegasus Gold announced a bid for Dayton Mining, an all-share deal of three shares of Pegasus for four of Dayton. The market took $1.30 off Pegasus, which closed at $14.60, and bumped Dayton $1.20 to $10.60.

Base metals lost ground on the London Metal Exchange last week as well.

Nickel gave back 11 cents of recent gains to finish the period at US$3.31 per lb. Copper, after dipping to US85 cents per lb., recovered to finish unchanged at 87 cents. Lead was off 2 cents and zinc was 1 cents higher.

The TSE metals and minerals sub-index was up a meagre 14.54 points to 5,195.45. Inco, at $43.95, was up 30 cents, and led the sub-index in volume on 5 million shares. Next in line was Gibraltar at 4.3 million shares, closing 25 cents lower at $7.35 per share. Westmin, which is buying a piece of the rock, was off 5 cents to $6.20.

Among the other base metal issues, Noranda fell 40 cents to close at $28.55, Cameco added 10 cents to $68.80, and Cominco fell 60 cents to close at $29.60. Inmet, making management changes, added 30 cents to close at $9.20.

On the junior boards, Goldstake Exploration was a big gainer, picking up $2.45 to close at $3.55 on Sept. 17, with a volume of 6.7 million shares on the week. The company released limited results from chip sampling of surface trenches on its Soreang property in Indonesia, showing gold grades of 9-105 grams per tonne. On Sept. 18, Goldstake was down 80 cents to $2.75 with 3.6 million shares traded.

Montreal-listed JAG Mines was up $1.30 to close at $3.90. The company is operating a project to reclaim gold from refinery wastes from the region of the Ottawa River near the Royal Canadian Mint.

Western Copper was up 75 cents to $2.35 on the news that joint venture partner Teck would begin drilling at the Salvador property in Mexico.