Market Update & Important Indicators:
U.S. stocks notched fresh records, capping a week when the Dow Jones Industrial Average breached 19000 for the first time. It is the third consecutive week of gains for stocks as investors have bet on expectations for reduced corporate taxation and regulation and greater infrastructure spending. Thanks to these past three weeks, the Dow industrials are on track to end the year with 9.9% gains, which would mark their best annual finish since 2013. On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 8.63 points, or 0.4%, to 2213.35 and the Dow Jones industrials climbed 68.96 points, or 0.4%, to 19152.14, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 18.24 points, or 0.3%, to 5398.92. All three indexes, as well as the Russell 2000, closed at records on Friday. For the week, the Dow is up 1.5% while the S&P 500 climbed 1.4%.Since the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 8, the Dow industrials are up 4.5%. It has reached eight new records in that period. Small-company index Russell 2000 has closed at a fresh record every trading session since Nov. 14.
European stocks ended higher, getting a boost from health-care shares, a move that solidified a rise for blue-chip equities for a third consecutive week. The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.2% to end at 342.45, but it searched for firm footing throughout the session. Health-care shares put in the strongest performance while the financial and oil and gas were the two sectors that finished lower. The Stoxx 600 closed up the week by 0.9%. It's been up for three straight weeks, the longest run since a three-week string of advances in July. Trading volume was lighter than usual as U.S. equity trading hours were shortened on Friday, following the Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday.
Asian share markets were broadly higher Friday, with Japan's Nikkei hitting a 10-month high as the yen weakened. The Nikkei Stock Average, at one point up as much as 0.8%, finished with a 0.3% gain as profit-taking set in. That brought its November gain to 5.5%, best of Asia's benchmarks. Singapore's Straits Times Index added 0.8% while the Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.6%. The dollar rose further against the yen, though the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday subdued volume. A falling yuan has mainland investors hedging their investments in Hong Kong, whose currency is pegged to the U.S. dollar.
Australian shares capped off a strong week with further gains Friday that took the market to a three-month high. The advance was driven by continued strength in mining stocks on the back of stronger commodity prices. The big banks were among only the few pockets of weakness for the day, as lender conduct was pushed into the spotlight by court action begun by the country's antitrust regulator. Rising for a fourth-straight session, the S&P/ASX 200 added 22.7 points, or 0.4%, to finish at 5507.8. That left the index up 2.8% for the week, and 4% higher so far in 2016. A strong rebound in copper, iron ore and other resources this year has helped the materials sector outperform, lifted by signs of strengthened Chinese demand as well as expectations that Donald Trump's presidential election win will lead to a significant increase in infrastructure spending in the U.S. The sector was up 1.2% on Friday, and is now almost 41% higher year-to-date.
The London Metal Exchange's three-month copper contract closed up 0.2% at $5,879/t. Other base metals were mixed on Friday. Aluminium prices fell 0.9% to $1,757/t, tin fell 2.2% to $21,115/t and nickel fell 0.2% to $11,514/t. Zinc prices surged 3.5% to $2,807/t, trading at the highest level since 2008. Lead also rose to a multiyear high, up 6.9% at $2,386/t.
In this Issue:
Gascoyne Resources (GCY) | Dalgaranga Feasibility | BUY
Market Cap $131m | Current Price $0.51 | Target Price $0.74
Gascoyne Resources (GCY) has released its Dalgaranga Feasibility Study (FS) outlining a mine life of 6 years, life of mine (LOM) all in sustaining costs of A$931/oz and capital expenditure of A$86m. FS results were well within the original PFS guidance and marks Dalgaranga as one of the cheapest start-up capex projects we’ve seen in recent years thanks to existing infrastructure, smart tailings and waste disposal and low cost power requirements. Argonaut sees further growth opportunities on two fronts i) from the additional 400koz of inferred material that could be converted into reserves, and ii) an increase in mine life from the 550m strike extent of mineralisation at Gilbey’s South that has yet to be included in the Dalgaranga 1.12Moz Resource. GCY will now move to complete financing, regulatory approvals, construction tender decisions and the acquisition of 100% interest in the project. First gold production is scheduled for 1QCY2018. BUY with a $0.74ps target price ($0.77 prior).
Recent Contacts & Presentations:
Acacia Coal Ltd (AJC), Minotaur Exploration Ltd (MEP), Northern Minerals Ltd (NTU), Walkabout Resources Ltd (WKT), Antipa Minerals Ltd (AZY), Noxopharm Limited (NOX), Botanix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BOT), Emerald Resources NL (EMR), Metals of Africa Ltd (MTA), Stavely Minerals Ltd (SVY), Australis Oil & Gas Ltd (ATS), Davenport Resources Ltd (DAV), TFS Corporation Limited (TFC), Emmerson Resources Ltd (ERM), Syntonic Ltd (SYT), MZI Resources Ltd (MZI), Resolute Mining Ltd (RSG), Orthocell Ltd (OCC), Capricorn Metals Ltd (CMM), Eve Investments Ltd (EVE) , Australian Mines Ltd (AUZ), Heron Resources Ltd (HRR), St George Mining Ltd (SGQ), Threat Protect Australia Ltd (TPS)
Please read Argonaut's Important Disclaimers & disclosures
