U.S. markets were lifted and lowered by interest rate speculation and international tension, but finished the reporting period May 11-18 little changed. The S&P 500 index was off 3.96 points at 1,091.49, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 50.96 points at 9,968.51.
The mining stocks generally did well, though, as Middle East tension put some support under the gold price. Newmont Mining was up US$1.06 at US$37.54, and Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold rose US65 to US$29.79. The South Africans were also mostly better: Gold Fields was US40 higher at US$10.70, Harmony Gold Mining tacked on US21 to finish at US$10.65, and Durban Roodepoort Deep picked up US19 to close at US$2.55; only AngloGold Ashanti was down, sliding US21 to US$31.72.
Among the mid-tiers, Randgold Resources rose US29 to US$16.54, while Hecla Mining was US23 better at US$5.75 and Coeur d’Alene Mines clawed up US26 to US$4.60 on a firmer silver price. Two U.S. juniors also made nice price moves, Fischer-Watt Gold up US5 to US19 and Commerce Group rising US2 to US19.
Though positive economic news — and the fear that the U.S. Federal Reserve may raise interest rates as a result — damped the base metal markets, U.S. base metal equities had a pretty good trading week. Phelps Dodge added US70 to close at US$63.80 and Southern Peru Copper picked up US50 to finish at US$27.66. Not so the offshore listings, which were uniformly lower; Rio Tinto fell back US$1.58 to US$88.86, WMC Resources slid US$1.11 to US$12.09, and Anglo American slipped US48 to US$19.31.
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