That Was The Week That Was … In Australia By Our Man In...

That Was The Week That Was … In Australia

By Our Man In Oz

Minews. Good morning Australia, yet more records?

Oz. Just like the last time we spoke, but a rider this week that says the market might be somewhat stretched, especially when compared with what’s happening elsewhere. The word down this way is that a lot of mining stocks on AIM have run out of puff, and that’s not a good sign for the future of small-to-medium miners in Australia which have really been flying.

Minews. Two or three weeks ago I would have agreed with you. But not so much now as there are glimmers of light on AIM. Presumably the leaders remain the base metal stocks?

Oz. Very much so. Zinc is red hot, nickel not much cooler, and then we have renewed interest in the energy sector with coal stocks making an impressive return, and uranium stocks warming up as we head towards the big political showdown in April when both the government and opposition are likely to fall into line with pro-uranium policies. Capping off a remarkable week we had tremendous success from a couple of new floats, and waiting in the wings are about 16 more mining floats ready to list.

Minews. That is very interesting as AIM floats are down to a trickle, or even less. We might have a look later at who’s in your new float queue, but first a few prices, please?

Oz. You can’t go past the zinc producers, thanks to continued speculation that the world is close to running out of the stuff. Zinifex (ZFX), Perilya (PEM), CBH (CBH) and Kagara (KZL) all reached new 12-month highs during the week. Zinifex traded up to A$15.89 during Friday trade before easing to close the week at $15.88, a gain of A$1.23, or 8.4 per cent. What makes the latest price more noteworthy is that at this time last time Zinifex was trading at A$5.07, meaning the stock has risen by A$10.81 or 213 per cent in 12-months. .. more

http://www.minesite.com/storyFull5.php?storySeq=3910