That witches brew of market-churning news saw prices rise, fall, and rise again with copper and gold the bellwethers leading the flock.

Copper lived up to its reputation as a mirror of uncertain conditions, losing US20 cents at the start of the week before rising back to where it started at $US4.62 a pound.

Gold, the ultimate safe haven, dropped in the first few days of the week with a fall of $US90 an ounce before bouncing back to $US1935/oz in what might have been a relief rally sparked by the U.S. central bank only raising rates by 0.25% rather than the 0.5% which had been tipped by some professional investors.

Australian goldminers were caught in the mixer of competing pressures. Evolution led the way up with a rise of 30c to $4.46, while Newcrest went the other way with a fall of 10c to $25.94, perhaps in reaction to its high-priced acquisition of Canada’s Pretivm.

Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, reckons that Australian gold producers are starting to appeal on the basis of net present value and forward profit estimates which point to all of the big miners trading at prices well below the spot-market gold.

Evolution, for example, has a current share price which implies gold at $US1532/oz, according to the bank. Newcrest’s share price implies gold at $US1531/oz. Northern Star’s share price implies gold at $US1657/oz, and Regis’s share price implies gold at $US1607/oz.

Gold exploration and production news did little to move share prices this week. De Grey reported what it called “impressive” resource definition assays from its Brolga project but saw its price fall by 16c to $1.30. Chesser released a positive scoping study for its Diamba Sud project in Senegal and added 0.5c to11c, while Gascoyne slipped 2.5c to 33c despite reporting that strong gold production had helped reduce debt by 50%.

The prospect of further interest rate increases will maintain pressure on gold for the rest of the year with U.S. central bank boss, Jerome Powell, hinting at six more quarter of a point increases by Christmas, though offsetting the rates hikes is the huge unknown of a Russian financial collapse which could destabilise some of the world’s biggest banks and drive investors back to gold.

In Australia, the 10-year bond rate moved up to 2.52%, the highest in more than four years, with Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, bringing forward its timetable for the Reserve Bank to start its rate increases from November to August with a first move of 0.15% followed by two increase of 0.25%.

The increase in interest rates has been expected since last year as a classic central bank response to higher inflation though with oil sticking close to $US100 a barrel a sharp increase in rates could cause a significant economic slowdown if it’s not happening already.

On commodity markets the big news this week was a continuation of the nickel fiasco at the London Metal Exchange which struck a deal with a Chinese short-seller to allow him time to make good his bets either with cash or the delivery of high-grade nickel, a cosy deal which infuriated traders and appears to have already come unstuck.

The first attempt to restart nickel trading on the LME ended when the electronic market failed as prices plunged through the 5% daily price limit allowing transactions for only 1236 tonnes of metal and freezing the price at $US48,196/t.

Local nickel stocks traded on as if nothing had happened on the LME, led by Nimy which added 5.5c to 38c after reporting a thick (275 metre) ultramafic zone containing nickel and copper sulphides in the first hole at its Godley target inside the broader Mons project in WA.

Other nickel moves included: Western Areas up 6.5c to $3.53 after IGO said it would not lift its takeover offer price of $3.36. St George lost 1c to 5.4c after announcing a $5 million capital raising backed by high-profile Canadian investor Eric Sprott, and Poseidon added 0.4c to 9.5c after revealing the receipt of a $120 million government grant to help build a battery metal refining facility.

Poseidon was joined by a number of other companies receiving a government helping hand as part of its Modern Manufacturing Initiative. Other winners from the government hand-outs included:

  • Arafura Resources which rose by 4.5c to 24c thanks to a grant of $30 million for work on its Nolans Bore rare earth project.
  • Alpha HPA, up 6.7c to 61c thanks to receipt of $45 million for work on its high purity alumina project, and
  • Australian Vanadium, up 1.8c to 5.5c after being allocated $49 million for work on a project to recover nickel, copper and cobalt from mine tailings.

Lithium stocks had a mixed week as the price of the key battery metal edged higher in China thanks to the $US100/bbl oil price which will drive motorists into the arm of electric vehicle makers such as Tesla, which enjoyed a 10% share price rise to $US840 on the Nasdaq market in the U.S.

Explorer/developers did best in the lithium sector with moves that included:

  • Jindalee Resources, up 30c to $3.12 after reporting thick and rich lithium intersections from drilling at its McDermitt project in the U.S. with a best hit of 73.5 metres at 1.55% lithium oxide starting close to the surface.
  • Global Lithium added 1.5c to $1.69 after attracting diversified miner Mineral Resources as a 5% shareholder through a $30 million capital issue.
  • Minrex rose by 0.2c to 3.5c after reporting a promising lithium discovery in WA’s Pilbara region.
  • Established producers, Pilbara and Allkem slipped 23c and 38c lower respectively to $2.71 and $9.76.

Uranium stocks were marked down thanks to a $US5 per pound fall in the price of the nuclear fuel over the past 10 days to $US55/lb, not that the correction stopped a number of fund raisings, including:

  • Boss Energy going to the market for $120 million to help pay for the restart of the Honeymoon project in South Australia. New shares are priced at $2.15, well below last sales at $2.42.
  • Aura Energy receiving firm commitments for $8.8 million to advance its Tiris project in Mauritania. On the market, Aura fell by 4.8c to 26c, slightly above the 25c price for the new shares, and
  • Berkeley Energia earning a stock exchange speeding inquiry after storming up by 16c (67%) to 41c as interest grows in its Spanish uranium assets.

Iron ore stocks traded higher thanks to a $US5/tonne rise in the price of the steel making material to $141.50/t with the uptick attributed to the prospect of a fresh round of Chinese infrastructure spending to try and offset the negative effects of the Ukraine war.

Fortescue was the biggest winner from the higher ore price, adding 70c yesterday (Thursday) to $18.08 to largely offset a fall earlier in the week. Champion Iron was also down early in the week but rose by 26c yesterday $6.67.

Other news and market moving events included:

  • Sunstone Metals added 0.8c to 7.8c after reporting that a geophysical survey indicated that the Alba copper/gold structure within its Bramaderos project in Ecuador extended to a depth of 1km.
  • SolGold, a small Australian copper explorer listed in London, failed to react after being named as the possible recipient of a joint takeover bid from BHP and Newcrest. On the London market, the stock slipped 1.4 pence lower to 27.9p.
  • Sovereign Metals said it had continued to enjoy strong drilling success at its Kasiya rutile discovery in Malawi which had expanded the project mineralised envelope by 28% to 165 square kilometres. On the market, Sovereign added 5c to 49c, and
  • Helix Resources raised $13 million to expand exploration at its Cobar copper discovery in NSW. On the market, the stock slipped 0.2c lower to 1.3c.