A handful of stocks swam against the outgoing tide and there was the hint of a late recovery, but the reality is that investor confidence has been bruised by an exchange of tit-for-tat tariffs which will ultimately weaken everyone.

Australia, which had hoped to dodge an attack by U.S. President Donald Trump was lumped into a category called “dumpers”, countries which he believes are unfairly undercutting U.S. industry with exports that include aluminium and steel.

Unlike Canada and Europe, which are fighting back with their own tariffs on U.S. goods and services, Australia is following the example of Britain by not responding in the belief that now is a time to duck for cover.

The low-key Australian response to U.S. criticism did not save the local market, which was down by 10.7% in the middle of the week from the high for the year reached just a month ago (February 14).

As the all ordinaries index hit the correction point, the gold price resumed its rise, reaching US$2945 an ounce, up US$65/oz and seemingly back on track to soon crack the US$3000/oz barrier.

Gold’s appeal as a safe haven in troubled times is likely to keep the price high as companies (and countries) try to find a way to deal with Trump and his aggressive attempt to reshape the world, which is the ultimate aim of his Make America Great Again project.

Adding to the appeal of gold and its sister metal silver is concern that the trade war could spiral out of control, which looked likely mid-week when Trump threatened to double tariffs on Canadian imports to 50% before returning to 25%.

For companies trying to do business in North America the uncertainty factor of tariff-on, flipping quickly to tariff-off is becoming a powerful disincentive – as is the nonsense of U.S. manufacturers paying 23% more for their aluminium than rivals in Europe and 40% more for steel as imported material is whacked by high tariffs.

The copper market is perhaps the best example of the volatility caused by the arbitrary application of tariffs with the U.S. Comex copper price 12% (or US$1000 a tonne) higher than the price on the London Metal Exchange.

The wild ride on the copper market sparked fresh assessments of where the world’s most important industrial metal is heading.

“U.S. copper price outperformance on expectation of import tariffs has created a strong near-term incentive to ship copper to the U.S. and build inventory,” Citi said in a midweek note.

But the bank added a rider, that a copper-price pullback could be expected once U.S. import demand collapses.

Investors shied away from copper miners while the market for their metal was churned in Trump’s tariff Mixmaster.

Local copper favourite Sandfire rose (to $11.20) before falling (to $10.42) and then rising again yesterday (Thursday) to $10.76.

Capstone, a Canadian copper company listed in Australia, performed a similar trick, falling by $1.20 early in the week to a low of $7.92 before bouncing back to $8.76, down 41c (4.5%) in a week when the copper price officially rose by US20 cents a pound.

Gold miners, which might have been expected to have delivered strong returns for investors as the price of their metal seemed to be setting its sights on US$3000/oz, largely failed to fire, with a few exceptions.

Evolution was the best of the big gold miners with a modest rise of 3c to $6.44 whereas its bigger rival Northern Star slipped 25c lower to $17.21, perhaps burdened by an independent report which said it was paying top dollar for emerging producer De Grey Mining which was 3c weaker at $2.01.

Other gold news and share price moves this week included:

  • Ora Banda fell 10c early in the week to 91c before bouncing back strongly to $1.05 after reporting high grade gold intersections from drilling at its Little Gem project in WA with a best hit of 22.7 metres at 5 grams a tonne.
  • Andean Silver added 7c to $1.07 after reporting a “compelling” 2km-long target at its Cerro Bayo project in Chile with links to known outcropping veins.
  • Ramelius was down 63c to $2.15 after delivering a poorly-received plan for the upgrade of its Mt Magnet mine in WA. Shaw and Partners said the market was being too harsh, sticking with a buy tip and target share price of $2.89.
  • Forrestania Resources rose by 0.6c (30%) to 2.6c after joining the migration of small explorer/miners to a focus on gold at its Lady Lila and Bonnie Vale projects in WA.
  • Core Lithium, another gold migrant, did less well, slipping 1c lower to 7.5c after reporting what looked like a large gold system at its Shoobridge project in the Northern Territory.
  • Pantoro rose by 2c to 15 after reporting encouraging drill results from its Polar Bear project near Norseman in WA with a best hit of 6m at 14g/t tonne from 30m. CG Capital Markets sees the stock rising to 19c, and
  • Alkane slipped 3c lower to 60c despite reporting upgraded economics for its Boda project in NSW. Bell Potter stuck with a buy tip and $1.20 price target.

Nickel, after two years in the sin bin of over-production and crashing prices, showed first signs of reawakening thanks to tighter mining rules being proposed in Indonesia and a surprise sell down by a major Indonesian investor in ASX listed Nickel Industries, which fell by 10c to 66c, but did dive as low as 55c.

It’s too early to know whether what’s happening is sustainable, but it is interesting to note that the nickel price is up 8.6% since the start of the year to US$16,598 a tonne and local leaders such as Centaurus added 2c to 40c, while Ardea, a long-life nickel sleeper with strong international connections, was steady at 44c but is up 11c (33%) since the start of the year.

Piche Resources, a relative newcomer to the market, was the pick of the uranium sector with a rise of 1.5c to 7.5c as interest grows in its Ashburton project near the WA iron ore mining centre of Newman.

Lotus Resources slipped 0.2c lower to 17c despite releasing an updated scoping study for its Letlhakane project in Malawi. CG Capital Markets has a price target on Lotus of 34c,

Boss Energy, one of the local uranium leaders, was marked down by 16c to $2.22 after announcing the acquisition of a 9% stake in Queensland uranium developer Laramide Resources.

Other news and market moves of interest this week included:

  • Aruma Resources, up 0.3c (33%) to 1.2c thanks to growing interest in its gallium exploration project in the north of WA. At one stage the stock was trading at 1.6c, good enough for a speeding ticket from the ASX.
  • Victory metals, down 2c to 42c despite reporting an encouraging scoping study for its North Stanmore rare earths project in WA.
  • Fortescue Metals, down 19c to $15.83 thanks to investor concern about reports of steep Chinese steel production cuts. At one stage, Fortescue was trading at a 12-month low of $15.33.
  • Mineral Resources, a troubled iron ore and lithium miner, bounced back this week with a 43c rise to $22.12.
  • Australian Vanadium slipped 0.02c lower to 1.1c despite growing interest in vanadium as a battery metal. Shaw and Partners has a price target of 6c on the stock, and
  • PhosCo rose by 1c to 7c thanks to a fresh capital raising and possible European Union involvement in its Gasaat phosphate project in Tunisia.