This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.

Here is a sample of this item:

by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score on Friday was a bleak 51-106-153 as the TSX Venture Exchange lost 17 points to 555. The beat down continues in the rough diamond sector. First, some late-to-arrive data prompted New York-based diamond analyst, Paul Zimnisky, to correct last week's setting of his global rough diamond price index 0.3 point lower, to 138.6 points. From there, current data resulted in a further 0.7-point decline, so that this week's setting is at 137.9 points, down 0.7 per cent from where we thought it was a week ago.

And so, rough diamond prices have now fallen for their 20th consecutive week since the index hovered just above the 150-point mark in mid-March. Rough diamond prices are off 13.2 per cent since Mr. Zimnisky pegged his index at 158.4 points a year ago, and the current monthly rate of decline, just shy of 2 per cent for the past four months, is showing no signs of abatement.

The current situation turns bleaker in the longer term. Mr. Zimnisky's index is now off 33.5 per cent from its all-time high of 207.3 points, set in mid-February of 2022. Arguably worse than that, his current fix is 20.1 per cent below where the index stood 10 years ago. At that time -- midsummer of 2014 -- the index hovered at 174 points, which was already a noticeable decline from the spring of 2011, when the index bubbled to its previous record high, just shy of the 200-point mark.

The remainder is available to Stockwatch subscribers.
Sign-up for a FREE 30-day Stockwatch subscription and SEE NO ADS