News

July 21, 2008

That Was The Week That Was … In Canada

By Our Canadian Correspondent

Minews. Now over to our Canadian Correspondent to see how the Canadian Markets performed over the past week.

CC. The summer doldrums have hit full stride on the exploration front, but companies looking to beef up in size or hedge against rising energy prices were busy doing deals last week on the Canadian Markets. That said, even merger news was not enough to lift the resource stocks out of their funk. Once all the trading was done, the TSX Ventures Exchange, home to more junior exploration companies than anywhere else in the world, posted its sixth straight losing week by dropping 3.85 per cent, while the TSX Gold Index fell 4.46 per cent.

The world’s largest gold miner went shopping for an oil and natural gas producer to hedge itself against rising energy costs. Barrick Gold initially offered C$354 million in cash to buy Cadence Energy, but Daylight Resources Trust then offered C$5.99 per share in stock, forcing Barrick to increase its offer to C$6.75 a share cash. Alberta-based Cadence produces some 3,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Shares in Cadence surged C$1.35 to close at C$6.79, while Barrick closed at C$47.70, down...