CHART: Friday massacre for mining stocks but copper price pulls out of nosedive

Precious metals and copper prices plunged on Friday as investors took the nomination of a new Fed chair as an excuse to book profits on the metals which have rallied to record highs this week.

Gold futures dropped as low as $4,700 an ounce before recovering some of those losses in afternoon trade only to succumb again to some late selling. Gold for delivery in April, the most active contract, closed at $4,745 an ounce down 11.4% or $600 an ounce on the day. It was the biggest intra-day decline since the early 1980s. 

As has become the norm, silver took even wilder swings with the metal down more than $40 an ounce or 35% to $74 an ounce around midday. The metal pared some of those losses but towards the end of trading suffered another bout of heavy selling to end the day at $78.53 an ounce, a 35.9% drop and the biggest decline on record. Palladium slid by 15% to $1,700 an ounce while platinum gave up 17% to $2,178 an ounce.

Copper was spared some of the volatility but the orange metal nevertheless ended Friday sharply below record highs hit on Thursday. March copper futures sold off as much as 9.5%, falling to $5.76 per pound ($12,700 per tonne), before clawing back to end Friday dealings 4.5% lower at $5.92 per pound or $13,060 a tonne. 

Copper hit an all time high of 6.58 per pound ($14,500 per tonne) on Thursday and remains in positive territory for the year with gains of just over 4% year to date.   

The weakness on metals markets fed through to mining stocks trading in the US and Canada with many counters suffering double digit percentage point drops on Friday wiping billions in market value from the sector. 

Gold, silver and platinum stocks were hardest hit with Newmont (NYSE:NEM) giving up 11.5% and Barrick Mining (NYSE:B) down in heavy volumes with 19 million and 31 million shares traded respectively. Newmont is now worth $122 billion in New York while Barrick enjoys a $77 market cap.  Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX:AEM) lost its status as a $100 billion stock, dropping 10.8% to a $95.6 billion market valuation.

Shares in Anglogold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) gave up more than 13% for a market value of $46.9 billion and Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) lost 14.5% to $47.4 billion. 

Royalty and streaming companies Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) fell 13.6% for a market value of $59.7 billion compared to a drop of 10.5% for Franco-Nevada at a $45.2 billion evaluation.

Over the counter units of silver miner Fresnillo (OTCPK:FNLPF) trading in the US lost 11.6% shaving down its market cap to $37.5 billion while Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS) suffered a 13.7% decline to $23.0 billion. Valterra Platinum (OTCPK:ANGPY) was one of the worst performers dropping 17.5% to end the day at a $24.9 billion market worth.

Copper producers and diversified companies fared better but were also still deep in the red across the board. 

BHP (NYSE:BHP) shares trading in the US shed 4.8% for a market value of $175.6 billion. Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) also came off relatively lightly declining by 4.3% for a $155.3 billion market cap. Tio Tinto came close to regaining its long-held position as the second most valuable mining company on Friday after Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) underperformed, diving 8.5% to $155.9 billion. 

Rio Tinto’s putative merger partner Glencore (OTCPK:GLNCY) came off lightest among the majors, only giving up 3.4% on the day. Glencore is now worth $80.0 billion and if and when the combination goes through – the Swiss miner and commodities trader has asked for more time – it would create the largest mining company globally in terms of value and revenues. 

Freeport McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) was the most heavily traded mining stock in New York with more than 40 million shares exchanging hands and investors pushed the Phoenix-based company’s stock down 7.5% taking its market cap to $86.5 billion.

Like other diversified giants Vale (NYSE:VALE) emerged Friday also relatively unscathed, sliding by 5.1% for a market cap of $68.2 billion and Anglo American (OTCPK:NGLOY) stock behaved likewise.

The tie-up between Teck Resources (NYSE:TECK) and Anglo is drawing closer to becoming a reality but both miners experienced a rough trading day – Teck lost 7.8% to $26.3 billion and Anglo declined by 5.7% to $50.5 billion. 

Punter’s favourite Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN) traded 9% lower at $18.0 billion while copper specialist First Quantum Minerals (TSX:FQM) fell by 7.7% to $23.6 billion. Pink sheets of Antofagasta (OTCPK:ANFGF), and KGHM (OTCPK:KGHPF) dropped 3.8% to $49.4 billion and 15.2% to $18.8 billion respectively.      

Chinese heavyweights Zijin Mining (OTCPK: ZIJMY) saw its US over the counter units decline by 12.2% for a $143.6 billion market value. Earlier in the day Zijin’s counterpart CMOC Group (SEHK:3993) fell 8.1% in Hong Kong in anticipation of heavy losses in New York as did Jiangxi Copper (SEHK:358), down 10.1% to $27.3 billion.

Just what a remarkable start to 2026 it has been for mining and metals markets, not a single stock among the top names are in the red year to date even after the day’s sell-off. Go back a year and the gains are even more spectacular with many heavyweight miners doubling, tripling or even quadrupling in value compared to this time last year.