Toronto Stock Exchange – April 14-20

A large selloff at the start of the week brought the TSX composite index down overall for the April 14-20 reporting period. The index lost more than 100 points to finish at 9,126.15 after the latest batch of corporate earnings failed to back up what had been a bullish run through much of April.

The renewed bearishness helped the price of gold rebound slightly as it gained roughly US$7 to finish the period at US$877 per oz. That uptick, however, failed to carry over to gold miners as the Global Gold index was off 8 points to 286.13.

Platinum continued its resurgence through the period, reaching as high as US$1,215 before settling at US$1,180 per oz. That positive momentum also carried over to the base metals as copper, nickel, tin, lead and zinc prices all climbed.

Teck shares were the most actively traded, receiving a healthy bump after the company announced it was able to defer repaying US$4.4 billion of debt that was due this year. Teck shares climbed 30% on the news and were trading at $11.85 at presstime. The stock fell 83% last year after the company took on US$9.81 billion in debt to buy Fording Canadian Coal Trust. The company originally had US$6.27 billion in debt due this year, but now owes only US$1.86 billion by year’s end.

Word that the development of its New Elk metallurgical coal mine in southern Colorado is going as planned had Cline Mining shares up 48% to 37¢ for the period. The company says it expects to restart coal mining later this month, although it still needs final regulatory approval for its new mine plan and for the installation of the mining equipment and production facilities.

The onetime darling of the silicon and solar world, Timminco, continued its bad run. The company’s shares began the trading period at $3.49, but at presstime had declined to just $1.90. The drop came on the company’s announcement that some of its customers for solar panel-grade silicon were ending their contracts and demanding their deposits back due to non-compliance. Quality, quantity and pricing were all listed as problems. The bad news comes in the context of an already oversupplied solar market, where a shrinking economy has hurt market demand.

Dilution and hedging were the culprits in a retreat of Taseko Mines over the reporting period. The copper producer’s shares fell 21% to $1.59 after it announced it was selling roughly 14 million shares for $1.45 and hedging half of its 2009 copper production within a price range of US$1.88 to US$2.36 per lb. While the hedging move may yet prove prescient if copper prices turn south, the metal’s continued upward momentum — it finished the period at US$2.10 per lb. — hurt Taseko in the short term.

TSX most active issues
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Teck B	TCKB	70034	11.49	9.05	9.11	-1.88
Mercator Mnls	ML	49853	1.66	1.17	1.23	-0.29
Breakwater Res	BWR	45361	0.15	0.12	0.12	+ 0.01
Sherritt Intl	S	36441	5.39	3.76	4.83	+ 0.81
Yamana Gold	YRI	29613	10.15	8.96	9.70	-0.37
HoriznsGBull	HGU	29496	10.85	8.76	9.99	-0.58
Kinross Gold	K	29305	18.37	16.52	18.23	+ 0.21
Paladin Energy	PDN	27334	3.57	3.06	3.38	+ 0.21
Adanac Moly	AUA	25562	0.15	0.03	0.07	+ 0.06
Denison Mines	DML	25045	1.63	1.32	1.41	+ 0.11

TSX greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Adanac Moly	AUA	25562	0.15	0.03	0.07	+600.0
Arehada Mining	AHD	834	0.10	0.06	0.07	+ 75.0
Moly Mines	MOL	4968	0.47	0.24	0.35	+ 52.1
Contl Precious	CZQ	10568	0.67	0.41	0.62	+ 51.2
Victory Nickel	NI	16215	0.09	0.04	0.06	+ 50.0
Cline Mng	CMK	14284	0.62	0.24	0.37	+ 48.0
Powertech Uran	PWE	1265	0.45	0.25	0.36	+ 44.0
Lydian Intl	LYD	91	0.44	0.35	0.44	+ 33.3
Farallon Res	FAN	15456	0.28	0.19	0.27	+ 28.5
Ursa Major Min	UMJ	294	0.16	0.10	0.14	+ 27.2
Sierra Minls	SIM	152	0.13	0.10	0.10	-33.3
Timminco	TIM	6553	3.90	2.32	2.36	-32.3
Linear Metals	LRM	183	0.08	0.05	0.05	-28.5
North Atlc Res	NAC	124	0.10	0.07	0.08	-27.2
Grandview Gld	GVX	68	0.10	0.09	0.09	-25.0
Yukon Gold	YK	13	0.04	0.03	0.03	-25.0
Ventana Gold	VEN	2215	1.90	1.41	1.42	-22.4
Golden Peaks	GL	55	0.40	0.32	0.32	-21.9
Taseko Mines	TKO	6122	2.03	1.57	1.59	-21.2
Baffinland Irn	BIM	7683	0.53	0.38	0.42	-20.7

TSX greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Barrick Gold	ABX	23239145	36.16	+ 1.06
Sherritt Intl	S	36441097	4.83	+ 0.81
Red Back Mng	RBI	12237505	7.60	+ 0.80
IShCOMEXGTr	IGT	25255	107.63	+ 0.78
Centerra Gold < /td>	CG	1198204	5.36	+ 0.68
Boliden AB	BLS	12883	7.64	+ 0.64
Russell Metals	RUS	2683001	12.40	+ 0.50
Athabasca Pota	API	1000806	3.25	+ 0.50
Royal Gold	RGL	50974	45.60	+ 0.39
Harry Winston	HW	5695720	4.72	+ 0.34
First Quantum	FM	4658997	38.05	-5.38
Potash Cp Sask	POT	6226672	103.00	-4.44
Inmet Mining	IMN	2111143	34.57	-4.04
Newmont Mng	NMC	24334	48.37	-3.09
Major Drilling	MDI	447769	13.89	-2.21
Seabridge Gold	SEA	147447	24.40	-1.99
Goldcorp	G	19104947	34.90	-1.88
Teck B	TCKB	70033842	9.11	-1.88
Central Gold-T	GTU_U	46647	50.23	-1.55
Cameco Corp	CCO	5846624	21.07	-1.26