News

August 24, 2008

That Was The Week That Was ... In London

By Henry Sandford

It was another mixed week for London’s mining shares, with some very strong performances, but also a lot of persistent weakness. One theme, although by no means true across the board, was that producers benefitted from some immediate strength in commodities prices, while the explorers continued to show weakness, as cash and positive sentiment remains in short supply. The majors all enjoyed gains, with Anglo American (LSE: AAL) ahead five per cent at 2,875p and BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT) up 11 per cent per cent at 1,698p after it released strong results for the year to the end of June. Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) rose 12 per cent to 5,179p, and Xstrata (LSE: XTA) was eight per cent better at 3,101p.

Turning to the fully listed large caps, First Quantum Minerals (AIM: FQM) surged 19 per cent to 3,755p, International Ferro Metals (LSE: IFL) rose 14 per cent per cent to 85p and Aricom (LSE: ORE) was up 11 per cent to 46.75p. Kazakh rivals Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (LSE: ENRC) and Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) were both strong. ENRC rose seven per cent to 1,033p and Kazakhmys was up 16 per cent at 1,358p. That was after ENRC put out strong half year results and also claimed that the 25 per...