U. S. Markets – March 17-23

U. S. equity markets continued to rally during the March 17-23 reporting period. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 559 points, or 7.7%, at 7,776; the S&P 500 index advanced 69 points, or 9.2%, to 823; and the Nasdaq added 152 points, or 10.8%, to 1,556.

Investors warmed up to stocks after the U. S. government announced plans to buy bad debts from U. S. banks for US$1 trillion. And the U. S. Federal Reserve announced a plan to buy securities for more than US$1 trillion.

Inflation fears caused gold and silver indices to surge, with the Amex Gold Bugs index jumping 44 points, or 15.6%, to 329, and the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index adding 17 points, or 13.9%, to 138.

Base metal prices rose on hopes that steps by the U. S. government will stimulate the economy, and reports that China was stepping up base metal imports.

Diversified miner Teck added US$1.22 to US$5.40 after the contract price for hard coking coal in Australia was finalized at US$128-129 per tonne, sharply down from US$300 last year. The new price is higher than some observers had anticipated.

Silver miner Coeur d’Alene Mines gained US30¢ to US95¢ after converting US$75 million in notes to common stock. Fellow silver miners Hecla Mining and Silver Wheaton were also up.

Barrick Gold, the world’s largest gold miner, added US$3.58 to US$33.18 after completing a US$750-million debt issue.

Lundin Mining, which agreed in February to terminate its merger plans with Hud-Bay Minerals, vaulted US43¢ to US$1.26. The company plans to delist its shares from the New York Stock Exchange.

Banro was up sharply, rising US90¢ to US$2 after announcing a resource estimate for one gold project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and a feasibility study for another. The DRC government has confirmed Banro’s property titles, and the company has completed a US$14-million private placement. The shares were up despite continued fighting in the DRC.

Anooraq Resources gained US18¢ to US56¢. Anooraq is negotiating with Anglo Platinum for the purchase of a platinum project in South Africa.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Alcoa* AA	593204	7.40	5.22	7.40	+ 1.28
Vale* RIO	205113	14.96	12.94	14.96	+ 1.51
Freeport McMo*FCX	131967	42.62	34.35	41.87	+ 4.61
Barrick Gold* ABX	90631	34.24	27.20	33.18	+ 3.58
Goldcorp* GG	78570	34.89	27.10	34.13	+ 4.85
Newmont Mng* NEM	65855	45.25	35.46	44.67	+ 7.20
CoeurdAlene*CDE	65153	0.95	0.62	0.95	+0.30
Silverado* SLGLF	61331	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.00
Silver Wheatn* SLW	58861	8.63	6.15	8.29	+ 1.84
Gold Fields* GFI	57434	12.82	10.98	12.13	-0.06

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Elray Res*	ELRA	169	0.27	0.08	0.24	+ 84.6
Banro Res*	BAA	1122	2.28	1.10	2.00	+ 81.8
Cornerstone C*	CTNXF	25	0.05	0.05	0.05	+ 66.6
Augusta Res*	AZC	219	1.39	0.81	1.34	+ 59.5
Lundin Mng*	LMC	3126	1.27	0.86	1.26	+ 51.8
Fischer-W Gld*	FWGO	30	0.03	0.02	0.03	+ 50.0
Anooraq Res*	ANO	1153	0.64	0.36	0.56	+ 47.3
Hecla Mining*	HL	44006	2.20	1.40	2.15	+ 47.2
Quaterra Res*	QMM	81	0.69	0.45	0.69	+ 46.8
Coeur d Alene*	CDE	65153	0.95	0.62	0.95	+ 46.1
Aspire Intl*	APIT	22	0.10	0.04	0.04	-60.0
Brookmount Ex*	BMXI	40	0.03	0.02	0.03	-50.0
Dominion Mnls*	DMNM	29	0.18	0.08	0.10	-41.1
HomelandPrM*	HPMEF	10	0.02	0.02	0.02	-33.3
Denison Mines*	DNN	1390	1.12	0.70	0.75	-27.8
Shoshone Silv*	SHSH	23	0.15	0.10	0.10	-23.0
Solitario Res*	XPL	74	1.36	1.01	1.07	-17.0
US Antimony*	UAMY	31	0.25	0.20	0.20	-16.6
Dejour Enterp*	DEJ	135	0.29	0.23	0.25	-13.7
Gold Reserve*	GRZ	283	0.81	0.65	0.69	-12.6

DNN

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Rio Tinto*	RTP	6261400	132.79	+ 16.39
Agnico-Eagle*	AEM	28035281	56.33	+ 7.69
BHP Billi-BBL*	BBL	7281117	44.93	+ 7.52
Newmont Mng*	NEM	65855302	44.67	+ 7.20
BHP Billi-BHP*	BHP	33384421	48.08	+ 6.81
Potash C Sask*	POT	53549033	82.66	+ 6.75
Royal Gold*	RGLD	4322129	45.37	+ 6.45
Randgold Res*	GOLD	7140750	52.35	+ 6.08
ASA (Bermuda)*	ASA	308633	53.29	+ 5.95
Goldcorp*	GG	78570423	34.13	+ 4.85
Denison Mines*	1389500	0.75	-0.29
Solitario Res*	XPL	73954	1.07	-0.22
Cardero Res*	CDY	846924	1.25	-0.18
Gold Reserve*	GRZ	282739	0.69	-0.10
NovaGold Res*	NG	12093375	2.32	-0.08
Dominion Mnls*	DMNM	29300	0.10	-0.07
Gold Fields*	GFI	57433961	12.13	-0.06
Aspire Intl*	APIT	22400	0.04	-0.06
Dejour Enterp*	DEJ	134900	0.25	-0.04
US Antimony*	UAMY	31000	0.20	-0.04