Gold regained some shine, bouncing beyond the $US800 mark to $816.45 but there were both ups and downs for gold plays on Final Call’ watchlist.
Newcrest Mining fell 20c to $26 and Sino Gold Mining shed 23c (5.6%) to $3.90, despite no news.
Meanwhile Norton Gold Fields closed 0.5c (2.4%) down at 20.5c as it extended the offer for its takeover for Bellamel.
On the upside, Centamin Egypt rose 9.5c (9.7%) to $1.07 and St Barbara lifted 1c (5.3%) to 20c.
Lihir Gold was steady at $2.20.
But the gold outlook couldn’t save OZ Minerals from taking a tumble with the diversified miner blaming volatile commodity prices for today’s disappointing financial results.
Described by chief executive Andrew Michelmore as “messy” the results were dragged down by major write downs and falling zinc and copper prices.
Mining analyst at UBS AG, Jo Battershill, slammed the results as “pretty poor” but added, “the only way is up from here hopefully”
OZ Minerals ended the day 14.5c (7.9%) down on $1.685.
Zinc and lead miner Perilya took a 4.5c (10%) hit, down to 49.5c after announcing jobs and production would be cut at the Broken Hill mine in an effort to keep its operations economically viable.
Other zinc plays matched the mood with Jabiru Metals down 1.5c (5.4%) to 26.5c, Terramin Australia 0.5c lower at $1.97 and Aim Resources shedding 0.3c (10.7%) to 2.5c.
Things were better in the nickel camp with Mincor Resources rising 7.5c to $1.835, despite announcing a net profit down 37% on the previous year.
Despite no news, Minara gained 1.5c to $1.265, Panoramic Resources lifted 8c to $2.23, while Mirabela Nickel rose 29c to $5.36.
In other mineral news, a major resource upgrade at the Marillana project gave iron ore junior Brockman Resources a 5c boost to $1.43.
Mineral sands miner Iluka was down 31c (7%) to $4.12 following the release of its half year results, and the WA gas crisis was blamed for a net profit down 63% on last year’s takings.
While Thursday’s share market dealt a mixed hand to the bulk of resource stocks, the majors held their ground.
Rio Tinto was up $2.20 (1.9%) to $118.90 as rumours circulated of a possible Indonesian nickel deal, while BHP Billiton gained 22c (0.6%) to $38.95 following news of a five-year coal agreement with South Korea's Hyundai Steel.
The All Ords index closed 47.9 points down to 4949.6 while the S&P-ASX 200 was 54.3 points lower at 4875.
