Daily Roundup - March 10, 2009

Spot gold had another rough day today. After remaining flat overnight, it sunk to about US$910 early this morning and stayed in the 910-915 range until a little after 9:30 AM ET. Then, it broke the bottom of the range and sunk to a little below 900 by about 10:15. The 900 resistance level holding, it bounced between 900 and 905 until about 11:30, when the 900 level was breached. The next range was between 893 and 897, and even that range was poked through just before 2 PM ET. Gold then trundled back up to about 900, and spent the rest of the regular trading day stuck between 896 and 900. It closed the regular trading day at US$897.30, for a loss of $24.20. Again, the Amex Gold Bugs Index was down - this day, by more than 5%.

Many of the Canadian gold stocks with news items today were down too, but not all of them. The biggest gainer, both in percentage and point terms, was a takeover target. Southwestern Resources shot right up to 43 cents at the open, and stayed between 42 and 43 for most of the first hour. After briefly touching 44, it drifted down to 42, dawdled awhile, and sunk down to 40 by noon ET. It quickly rebounded to a range of 41-41.5, closing at a straight 41 cents for an exact double on the day. Trading was extremely heavy, and no wonder: before the market opened, Hochschild plc bid 50 cents a share for the company. That bid got okayed by Southwestern's board.

The next biggest gainer on a percentage basis was Alexandria Minerals, which picked up after it announced that it is pursuing an NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for its Orenada and Sleepy properties in its Cadillac Break property group. The stock had picked up a little before the news hit the Net, but the announcement gave it a little extra kick. Alexandria closed at 4.5 cents, up a penny on the day, in moderate trading. This gain, though, put the stock back in the middle of a trading range that was cut to the downside yesterday.

In point terms, the next biggest gainer behind Southwestern was Amex Exploration, Inc. Amex announced that it had landed $250,000 of a planned $500,000 financing: Visible Gold, Inc. committed to take the entire tranche. Visible Gold is the same company which optioned Amex's Cameron property. Amex closed at 23.5 cents, up 1.5 cents on somewhat heavy trading. Visible Gold itself closed unchanged at 8 cents, on moderate trading.

An unchanged close could be considered pretty good, given how the typical gold stock fared today. The stock that was the worst performer in the posts below was IAMGOLD. The company announced that its planned secondary offering, increased to $300 million gross proceeds, was to be priced at $8.75. That pricing made it a bargain at yesterday's close of $9.43, but not at today's close at $8.30.

That's it for the Canadian Gold Stock News Watch daily wrapup. This post will stay at the header until early tomorrow morning, when the items that came in overnight will be put up. Also, I'll put up any items from yesterday that came through the CNW Group wire. (For some reason, my filter there leaves me a day behind.) Until that time, thanks for stopping by - and best chances through the gold slump.


Stocks Mentioned: Southwestern Resources, Alexandria Minerals Corp., Amex Exploration, Inc., Visible Gold Mines, Inc., IAMGOLD.

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NOTE: This blog is confined to aggregating news relating to Canadian gold stocks, as well as to commenting on past and present price movements, and is intended as an informational resource. It is not intended to make recommendations, nor is it a tool for forecasting future price movements. Its author is not a qualified investment advisor, and as such cannot make any investment recommendations. Should you be interested in any stock that appears here, please consider carefully if it is suitable for you and your portfolio. Please also consider seeking advice from a professional investment advisor if you have not already done so.