Trading Summary (February 21, 2003)

The Toronto Stock Exchange didn’t share in a worldwide equities rally on Friday. With the golds moving against the broad sentiment in favor of stocks, and several other sectors — health care, information technology, and telecoms — taking losses, the TSX Composite index was off 7.48 points to close at 6,558.63.

Gold was fixed at US$352.30 in London, but drifted slowly lower in New York trading to close near US$351. The TSX Gold index fell sharply in the last half of the day to close at 180.30, 5.58 points or 3% below Thursday’s close.

The lone advancer was Iamgold, which rose a dime to $7.65. Elsewhere, all was misery: Meridian Gold was down $1.40 at $21.60, Goldcorp slipped 58 to close at $17.47, and Placer Dome, the most active trader at 4.4 million shares, slumped 64 to finish at $14.90.

Among the smaller producers, McWatters Mining was unchanged at 27, Wheaton River Minerals fell 4 to $1.34, and Northgate Exploration was off 4 at $1.91.

The TSX Metals and Mining index was the best performer on the market on Friday, zipping 2.19 points higher to close at 134.15. The most active issue was Fording, trading 2.4 million shares as some shareholders cashed in positions taken before shareholder approval came through to turn the company into an income trust. The price was up 27 at $33.42.

Noranda was up 16 at $13.88 with just under a million shares trading. It and the Noranda Mine Workers, the union at the Horne copper smelter in Rouyn-Noranda, announced they were returning to the bargaining table on Wednesday. The workforce at Horne has been on strike since last June and the last talks took place in November.

The rising nickel price — which broke US$4 per lb. Thursday in London curb trading — floated the nickel producers. Inco, which saw 2 million shares move, was up 69 at $33.34, Falconbridge added 49 to close at $17.59, and LionOre Mining International picked up 35 to finish at $5.85. Only Sherritt International fell back, slipping a nickel to $4.70.

The Toronto juniors were mostly quiet, but Orezone Resources picked up 4 to finish at 55 on a volume of 713,000 shares. Orezone’s main exploration effort is in the Birimian gold belts in Burkina Faso.

Canada’s junior exchange ended the week on an up note with advancer’s beating decliners 338 to 299. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index gained 7.17 points, or 0.66%, and closed at 1,102.20, with 32.6 million shares traded.

Stornoway Ventures and Northern Empire Minerals continued to be the market darlings. Shares of Stornoway jumped 21 and closed at $1.48 on a volume of 1.4 million. Northern Empire’s issue tacked on 25 and closed at $1.47 on 1.18 million shares. The partners have traded heavily since announcing the discovery of two diamond-bearing kimberlites on the Melville Peninsula in Nunavut. They also recently picked up more ground in the vicinity of their Aviat project located 850 km northwest of the territorial capital of Iqaluit.

Investors sold off shares in Mustang Minerals. The junior lost 3 and closed at 54 on 452,949 shares. The company is in the midst of a drill program over the McAra massive sulphide property some 120 km south of Timmins, Ontario.