Daily Roundup - March 16, 2009

Spot gold had a rough ride over the last 24 hours, but ended up only a little below where it started. The week's trading got off on a plummet, which saw gold shoot down to a little below US925/oz. That same level was where the price hung around until about 3 AM ET, when it crept up to about 928 in two climbs. This rally proved abortive, as gold slid below 925 and, after an even more abortive attempt at a second rally, below 920. This final plummet marked the bottom of the day, at about 9:30 AM ET. The next rally proved to be more durable, but left gold at about 920 after a partial retrenchment. By 11-130, gold began to dawdle upwards, but without much conviction. At the end of the regular trading day, it came to rest at US$923.10, down $6.30 on the day. The AMEX Gold Bugs Index fell along in stride, ending the day down 1.11% at 284.34.

News was a relatively light, and the stocks followed on this blog today performed as might be expected given the Index and gold itself. The one with the greatest point gain was First Quantum, and its news was the appointment of Troy Hayden as interim CEO. Regardless of cause, the stock's performance today gave him a good welcome: it closed at $37.60, up $1.51 or 4.2% on the day. Current bid-ask is $37.60 - $37.69.

The largest gainer on a percentage basis was X-Cal Resources, which closed up a penny at six cents for a gain of 20%. Before trading opened, X-Cal announced a private placement of up to $500,000 with no warrants as part of the deal. Like the above item, it's hard to make a case for a link between news and performance...although the lack of the usual units-with-warrants might give grist. Current bid - ask for X-Cal is 5 - 6.5 cents, suggesting that "large spread" would fly better as an explanation.

The second-largest gainer on a point basis has a little closer tie to its item today. Nautilis Mining put out a release saying that it has more than US$1.50/share, or US$231 million, in cash as of the end of 2008. It gained 6 cents to close at $1.09, up 6 cents on the day with very light volume. The cash is earmarked for burning, of course, and the news release sketches out some of Nautilis' plans.

The largest dropper today was Hawthorne Gold, which issued a release saying that it had drilled a 2.20 m interval of 11.04 g/t gold in its best of fifteen holes on its Cassiar Gold Camp property. Evidently, the market didn't take to the numbers all that well: Hawthorne closed at 25 cents for a drop of 5 cents or 16.7% on very heavy volume. Current bid-ask is 24 -25 cents.

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 whatever reason, my filter there leaves me a day behind.) Until that time, thanks for stopping by; the days are long away until AIG pays out bonuses in gold.

Stocks Mentioned: First Quantum Minerals Ltd., X-Cal Resources Ltd., Nautilis Minerals Inc., Hawthorne Gold Corp.

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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.