U.S. Markets – November 24-30

U. S. markets reeled after word came out of Dubai that some of its state-run conglomerates had to delay massive debt repayments. And while markets bounced back after a mid-period selloff that followed the U. S. Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 26, the major U. S. indexes still finished the Nov. 24-30 reporting period down.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 150 points to 10,344, the S&P 500 index dropped 10 points to 1,095.63, the Nasdaq ended the week 32 points lower at 2,144.6, and the small-cap Russell 2000 index saw a 15-point decline to 579.73.

And while the bad news from Dubai initially prompted a drop in the price of gold as investors fled to the greenback, the yellow metal regained its lustre by the end of the reporting period. Gold was trading at US$1,196.80 per oz. at presstime. Such strength was transmitted into the Dow Jones UBS Precious Metals index, which gained a point to finish at 174.47. The Amex Gold Bugs index, however, failed to reflect the metal’s power as it was down 7 points to 474.68.

The Dubai-driven market slump hit big-name base metal producers the hardest, with Rio Tinto down US$10.22 to US$204.10; Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold falling US$4.26 to US$82.80; and BHP Billiton coming off US$2.97 to US$75.30.

Kimber Resources, however, climbed 19% higher over the reporting period to finish at US$1.55. The company began its ascent after announcing a mineral estimate and improved metallurgical recoveries at its Carmen gold-silver deposit on Nov. 18. The company’s shares were up another 8% at presstime after upgrading its gold and silver resource at the Veta Minitas deposit, which sits just 250 metres southwest of Carmen. Both Carmen and Veta Minitas are part of Kimber’s Monterde project in northwestern Mexico.

Interest in Crystallex Internationalstory picked up again in the period, though for no apparent reason. The company saw its shares suddenly jump 75% to close at 45¢ on Nov. 16, only to see them come back down to 28¢ on Nov. 30th. On Dec. 1, however, the stock was rolling again, climbing 37% to 38¢.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Alcoa* AA	71228	13.06	12.46	12.52	-0.62
Hecla Mining* HL	41635	6.62	6.00	6.61	-0.01
Freeport McMo*FCX	34246	85.89	82.14	82.80	-4.26
Barrick Gold* ABX	30589	44.25	41.70	42.69	-1.96
Goldcorp* GG	24270	44.56	41.20	42.00	-3.34
Silver Wheatn* SLW	21458	16.35	15.30	16.07	-0.87
Kinross Gold* KGC	20350	20.18	18.69	20.02	-0.38
Newmont Mng* NEM	19997	54.15	52.18	53.64	-1.25
Gold Fields* GFI	17216	14.86	14.26	14.78	-0.39
Silverado* SLGLF	14951	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.00

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Pediment Gold*	PEZGF	308	1.60	1.08	1.56	+ 26.8
Yellowcake Mg*	YCKM	39	0.05	0.03	0.05	+ 25.0
Kimber Res*	KBX	1610	1.80	1.00	1.55	+ 19.2
Cornerstone C*	CTNXF	53	0.16	0.13	0.15	+ 15.3
Constittn Mng*	CMIN	1541	1.52	1.13	1.52	+ 14.2
Nevsun Res*	NSU	2614	3.20	2.73	3.19	+ 11.5
Metalline Mng*	MMG	109	0.78	0.66	0.76	+ 8.5
Intl Tower Hi*	THM	91	7.50	6.02	7.26	+ 8.3
Petaquilla Mn*	PTQMF	1237	0.56	0.41	0.54	+ 8.0
Bullion Monar*	BULM	123	0.81	0.70	0.80	+ 6.6
NWT Uranium*	NWURF	41	0.13	0.09	0.09	-35.7
Crystallex In*	KRY	4834	0.40	0.27	0.28	-31.7
Brookmount Ex*	BMXI	101	0.10	0.02	0.08	-20.0
Silver Dragon*	SDRG	776	0.47	0.40	0.44	-15.3
Alberta Star *	ASXSF	394	0.18	0.16	0.17	-15.0
Uranerz Energ*	URZ	838	1.70	1.38	1.38	-14.8
Global Gold*	GBGD	313	0.22	0.17	0.18	-14.2
Patriot Gold*	PGOL	19	0.24	0.20	0.21	-12.5
America West*	AWSR	444	0.09	0.07	0.07	-12.5
Alumina Inc*	AWC	744	6.10	5.51	5.60	-12.3

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Intl Tower Hi*	THM	91100	7.26	+ 0.56
Pediment Gold*	PEZGF	307748	1.56	+ 0.33
Nevsun Res*	NSU	2613690	3.19	+ 0.33
Natural Rs Pt*	NRP	107100	23.81	+ 0.31
Kimber Res*	KBX	1609508	1.55	+ 0.25
MDU Res*	MDU	1746533	22.60	+ 0.20
Intl Royalty*	ROY	555174	4.20	+ 0.20
Constittn Mng*	CMIN	1540987	1.52	+ 0.19
Golden Star*	GSS	12823445	3.86	+ 0.18
L&L Intl Hldg*	LLFH	220066	4.78	+ 0.15
Rio Tinto*	RTP	3016663	204.10	-10. 22
Freeport McMo*	FCX	34246104	82.80	-4.26
Potash C Sask*	POT	14400374	112.42	-3.43
Goldcorp*	GG	24269935	42.00	-3.34
BHP Billi-BHP*	BHP	10869716	75.30	-2.97
AngloGold Ash*	AU	7176945	44.04	-2.83
Agrium*	AGU	1613900	55.86	-2.70
Mosaic*	MOS	11017951	54.45	-2.41
Alpha Nat Res*	ANR	9276212	37.00	-2.40
Seabridge Gld*	SA	652213	25.21	-2.40