Xstrata is a major global diversified mining group. Xstrata maintains a meaningful position in six major international commodity markets: copper, coking coal, thermal coal, ferrochrome, vanadium and zinc, with additional exposures to gold, lead and silver. The Groups operations and projects span four continents and seven countries: Australia, South Africa, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Peru and the UK.

            Red = 25 day moving average.           Green = 200 day moving average.

SALES PER ACTIVITY (Data as of 31/12/2005)

Coal:       42%
Copper:    25%
Zinc:       18%
Chrome:   10%
Vanadium: 4%
Others:     1%

Good morning mon petit choux: the way things are going, it would indeed be very tempting to buy more XTA at below 30. Chart was heading in the right direction earlier but not so good now.

bonjour a toi aussi mon amour ..... j'espere que tout va bien chez toi ..... meanwhile, you ain't got a hope in hell (for the mo) of buying sub 30 as currently 3160

PS or does "mon amour" make you a bloke?

Have just got in from a good workout at the newly refurbished gym - but even there I could not escape the gloom-and-doom of the markets on Sky TV (which I'm normally happy to be diverted by). And in the meantime the chart is heading to 3060, which seems to be its support point on the 5-day chart at least except for first thing today. Will watch with interest.

anyone think these will drop again when US markets open?
Alex

i cheated and know they did not lol!
much more relevant .....
if Dow does make some recovery and hold same (a) other markets will follow and (b) it will make it that much eassier for Vale (in this instance) to put together an acceptable share/cash offer

should have been brave and got in at 28** y/day. missed chance early am and thought about being brave later but missed the boat. :(
fortune favours the brave... but can also make you bankrupt

Alex

this has been a fun share to trade today, but then i have the luxury of having live prices permanently in front of me.

however, much more interestingly is the late performance (sorry; you're too late now!) .... note how strongly XTA finished whereas RIO (still a likley t/o target) finished quite a bit down as did Vedanta (VED?)

draw your own conclusions

AFX report:

China Development Bank, others interested in 14 bln stg Xstrata stake

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Prospective buyers from Asia, Europe and South America, including one of China's biggest state-controlled banks, have all made secret approaches to buy Glencore's 14 bln stg stake in Xstrata, the London-listed mining group, the Sunday Telegraph reported, without citing sources.

The paper said China Development Bank's interest in Xstrata is a further indication of Chinese companies' increasing willingness to participate directly in the wave of consolidation sweeping the commodities sector to ensure a secure supply of key resources such as iron ore and of the country's growing willingness to intervene on the global stage.

Cynic - you've probably read the details in your copy of the Telegraph?

don't get the Sunday Telegraph ..... 6 days of BNP propoganda is sufficient!

keep an eye on ORE!

Thanks for reminding me of ORE

Although current offer from VALE has been rejected by XTA, popular opinion seems to think that another offer of around 4250p per share would be a realistic compromise, which may be acceptable to both parties.

whatever .... i still hold a fairly small number which i have traded back and forth over the last several weeks.

ditto RIO

Whatever!!! You've been hanging around with those street gangs again.
The point I was trying to make was that there is still a good profit margin from todays price, assuming 4250p is a realistic target.

i concur, and this morning's weakness is arguably an opportunity to buy ..... Katherine Tait by the way!

Sp still dropping. Currently 3700. Chart would suggest 3600, but difficult to predict when the next offer will be made by Vale.
Have freed up some cash, so now looking for a good entry point.

This in today's Times:

Vale and Glencore in talks over Xstrata bid

just bought back in at 3804 as that seems to be a reasonable price from which one can trade or, with a great deal of luck, it will do very nicely indeed if a bid finally materialises over w/e

all sorts of strange things going on here this morning, but no news of any kind either from Reuters or Bloomberg.

took a profit earlier this morning and have just let greed get the better of me and bought back in ... though not extravagantly, i hope i do not live to regret it and end up giving back hard won profits from the last few weeks

Any idea why TMC is not moving with other mining stocks?

because it's nickel probably