Trading Summary (July 04, 2003)

The Toronto Stock Exchange traded in a narrow range and finished a little higher on Friday, with the TSX Composite index up 2.1 points to close at 7,001.88. The index sectors were split, with seven rising and six declining on the day.

The TSX Gold index was one of the gainers, tacking on 0.57 point to finish at 172.19. Bullion prices were steady, with the London afternoon fix at US$351.30 per oz., little changed from late trading on Thursday.

Most active on the index was Eldorado Gold, which gained 2 on a volume of 5.7 million, to close at $2.57. Another heavily traded gold was Bema Gold, which rose 8 to $2.04 on a volume of 1.7 million shares.

The rest of the golds were lightly traded, with Barrick Gold — which was up a dime at $24.31 — seeing only 83,641 shares move on the day. Agnico Eagle Mines rose 52 to $16.25, making the best move among the mid-tier producers. Iamgold, newly included on the American Stock Exchange’s Gold BUGS tradable index, was up 12 at $6.98

The TSX Metals and Mining index fell 0.96 point to 127.65 on Friday, as only one stock, Ivanhoe Mines, advanced. Ivanhoe was up 3 to $3.35, but the heavywieghts were all lower. Inco dropped back 21 to $27.99, Falconbridge was down 6 at $17.64, and Noranda slid 8 to $12.86.

Trading was light, with Noranda the most active on a volume of just over 300,000 shares.

Among the smaller companies off the indexes, Thistle Mining was off 1 to 54 on a volume of 1.9 million shares. Diamond explorer Tahera rose half a cent to 13.5 on 1.4 million shares. Black Hawk Minerals was unchanged at 16 with almost 800,000 shares moving; the company recently arranged a friendly merger with Glencairn Gold under which Glencairn takes over Black Hawk at a ratio of one share of Glencairn for three Black Hawk. Glencairn was up 4 on the TSX Venture exchange, at 54.

Canada’s junior exchange ended a lacklustre trading week by moving modestly higher with advancing issues out pacing declining stocks by a 279-to-225 margin. The S&P-TSX Venture Exchange composite index ended the day 4.14 points, or 0.37% lower and closed at 1,113.84.

ITL Capital nearly doubled in value to close at 6.5,up 2.5 on 751,000 shares traded. The junior along with partner Skyharbour Resources are looking to advance the HB gold property in the Red Lake area of Ontario.

Investors bid up shares in Far West Mining. The junior added 15 to close near a 52-week high at 83 on 302,000 shares traded. Far West along with partner BHP Billiton have a drill rig turning on the Iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) project in the Candelaria District of Northern Chile.

KWG Resources and partner Spider Resources went in opposite direction on the day. The partners are attempting to advance the Spider #3 base metal prospect in the James Bay Lowlands of Northern Ontario. A 10 hole program has been laid out and the drill rig is expected to be turning next week. KWG ended at 13, up a penny on 80,000 shares traded, while Spider closed at 11.5, down a penny on 246,500 shares traded.

Pacific Minerals ended the day up 3 at 61 on 183,533 shares traded. The junior holds considerable ground in China including the JBS platinum-palladium project, as well as the 217 gold property in Inner Mongolia.