By Paul Ferguson

I noticed something last week.  But before I get into it a little background is required.  Most of the junior mining stocks trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) or the Venture Exchange (TSX-V).  They are available to US investors through five-character symbols (xxxxF) that are associated with the OTC market.  In the past, on those rare occasions when the Canadian market was closed on a day that the US markets were open, there would be no volume in these junior mining stocks.  Trading in these stocks was conducted almost exclusively on the Canadian exchanges.

Last week we had a situation where the Canadian markets were closed for a couple of days on which the US markets were open.  I noticed that there was active trading in many junior mining stocks at significant volume levels.  This was a marked departure from the type of activity I have seen on these days in the past.  What I interpret this to mean is that there are a larger number of market makers working with these junior mining stocks and maintaining an inventory that is being traded on days when the primary market for these stocks is closed.  More market makers to accomodate an increasing number of market participants in an increasing number of issues.  It seems to me that it is consistent with the behavior of a market that is maturing…a broadening of the bull.