Toronto Stock Exchange Aug. 18-24

After giving investors a scare, the S&P/TSX composite index showed resilience once again, finishing the Aug. 18-24 reporting period roughly 200 points higher at 10,789.97.

Investor worry that a correction to the recent run-up in the market was under way, was allayed when material prices and stocks rebounded after a sell-off on Aug. 17.

The price of gold took part in the rebound as investors reversed the risk aversion play into the greenback and came back to the yellow metal, driving its price up from the low US$930-per-oz. range up over US$950 per oz. The Global Gold index was also up, gaining 4 points to 297.11.

The Capped Metals and Mining index also made gains, growing by 30 points to finish at 807.04. Those gains came despite slightly lower aluminum, nickel and tin prices. Copper, lead and zinc prices, however, did see a lift.

A private placement by Zincore Metals caught the attention of the market, with the company’s shares advancing 58% to 19¢ during the period. The Vancouver-based company announced it would raise $5 million by selling 20 million shares at 25¢ apiece. The money, Zincore said, will go towards exploration at its zinc properties in Peru and Mexico.

It took a while for the market to digest the story, but once it did, International Nickel Ventures went on a run. The company was up 39% for the period to 57¢ after announcing it had acquired a 50% interest in two exploration properties with Teck. The properties are the Rio Novo copper-gold property in Brazil and the Kaoko copper property in Namibia.

The latest market craze for rare earth metals, specifically lithium, had Linear Metals’ stock soaring. The company’s shares gained 35% during the reporting period to 23¢. Linear’s stock traded even higher at 41¢ at presstime on word that it was reactivating exploration on its Seymour Lake lithium, tantalum and beryllium property in northwestern Ontario.

Shares of Forsys Metals continued on their recent volatile pattern in connection with George Forrest International Afrique’s (GFI) bid for the company. While usually a friendly takeover offer would result in the courted company’s share price steadily moving towards the acquisition price, that hasn’t happened in Forsys’s case. Its shares have traded wildly on concerns the deal may not go through. First, there was the difficulty that GFI had in raising the $579 million to execute the transaction, and more recently the market reacted negatively to word that Industry Canada had halted the deal, just before it was to be consummated. While Industry Canada isn’t commenting on the move, rumours are swirling that it is the source of GFI’s funds that is in question, as the private company gave no details as to where its financing was coming from.

TSX most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
WesternCCoal WTN	39777	3.32	2.70	3.20	+ 0.31
Equinox Minls EQN	35858	2.76	2.48	2.73	+ 0.11
Teck B TCKB	26879	29.43	27.02	28.39	+ 0.47
Mercator Mnls ML	24112	2.77	2.28	2.62	+ 0.20
GrandeCacheCGCE	21384	4.04	3.63	3.78	+0.21
Lundin Mng LUN	20727	3.93	3.67	3.81	+ 0.13
New Gold NGD	19350	4.09	3.53	3.73	+ 0.21
Yamana Gold YRI	17305	9.94	9.44	9.65	+ 0.20
Chariot Res CHD	16731	0.51	0.37	0.45	+ 0.07
Phoenix Coal PHC	15427	0.27	0.22	0.23	-0.03

TSX greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
BRC DiamondCr	BCD	188	0.08	0.05	0.05	+ 66.6
Zincore Mtls	ZNC	2147	0.22	0.12	0.19	+ 58.3
Gitennes Expl	GIT	63	0.07	0.05	0.07	+ 40.0
Intl Nickel Vn	INV	538	0.61	0.40	0.57	+ 39.0
Linear Metals	LRM	471	0.23	0.13	0.23	+ 35.2
CIC Energy	ELC	424	2.28	1.71	2.26	+ 33.7
Vaaldiam Res	VAA	1329	0.05	0.04	0.04	+ 33.3
South Am Gld&C	SAG	3666	0.05	0.04	0.04	+ 33.3
Metallic Vent	MVG	2873	0.81	0.59	0.78	+ 32.2
WGI Heavy Mnl	WG	731	0.37	0.28	0.37	+ 32.1
Avnel Gold	AVK	15	0.25	0.17	0.17	-39.2
Coalcorp Mng	CCJ	1373	0.45	0.31	0.34	-22.7
Mediterrn Res	MNR	34	0.12	0.12	0.12	-20.0
Yukon Gold	YK	73	0.04	0.03	0.04	-20.0
Malaga	MLG	868	0.11	0.09	0.09	-18.1
Moneta Porcpn	ME	252	0.17	0.14	0.15	-16.6
EMC Metals	EMC	508	0.12	0.10	0.10	-16.6
Yukon-Nev Gold	YNG	4427	0.13	0.10	0.10	-16.6
Forsys Metals	FSY	8054	6.50	4.53	5.30	-15.6
South Am Silvr	SAC	309	0.39	0.33	0.33	-15.3

TSX greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
First Quantum	FM	2660913	72.77	+ 7.30
Potash Cp Sask	POT	3781158	103.75	+ 3.04
Agnico-Eagle	AEM	2682452	61.23	+ 2.62
Agrium	AGU	3025584	52.70	+ 2.00
Russell Metals	RUS	2421639	16.56	+ 1.48
Inmet Mining	IMN	1686507	47.20	+ 1.45
Franco-Nevada	FNV	1458653	27.07	+ 1.27
Coeur d Alene	CDM	147065	16.31	+ 1.14
Red Back Mng	RBI	6484510	10.78	+ 1.11
Pan Am Silver	PAA	1507721	21.31	+ 1.03
IShCOMEXGTr	IGT	10969	99.74	-1.83
Seabridge Gold	SEA	61118	29.65	-1.22
Forsys Metals	FSY	8053513	5.30	-0.98
Centerra Gold	CG	577997	6.22	-0.48
First Uranium	FIU	2320036	2.84	-0.40
Allied Nevada	ANV	1074469	8.95	-0.30
Mag Silver	MAG	358383	4.99	-0.28
Faircourt Gold	FGX	11991	7.74	-0.25
NovaGold Res	NG	989836	3.73	-0.23
Central Gold-T	GTU_U	24956	40.32	-0.22