Commodity related stocks bounced off their recent lows and that helped the Canadian markets post gains during Thursday’s session. For the tale of the tape: the TSX Exchange rallied 1.25%, while the TSX Gold Index bounced up 0.8% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, added 0.85% with the advancers edging out the decliners by a 386 to 325 margin on a pathetic 108 million shares traded.

Base metals were (mostly) slightly higher on Thursday. Copper gained 6.35 cents to close at $2.2069/lb. Nickel fell by nearly 2 cents to finish at $6.7139/lb. Zinc was little changed, ending at $0.6780/lb. Aluminum rose by nearly a cent, closing at $0.7014/lb., while lead moved to $0.7319/lb., up more than half a cent from the previous session.

Earlier this week, T. Boone Pickens, the 81-year-old Chairman of BP Capital, appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss the progress of the “Picken’s Plan.”

In the energy market, crude oil for August delivery rose 27 cents from Wednesday to close at $60.41/barrel. August reformulated gasoline gained more than 3 cents to finish at $1.6638/gallon.

Gold traded mostly sideways yesterday. Apart from a $10 jump up towards the end of Comex trading and then an equal slide down early on the Globex, it was a tame day. The yellow metal closed at $912.30/oz., up $3.20. Overnight, gold is trending lower.

The selloff in commodity-related stocks continued with a vengeance during Wednesday trading on the Canadian Markets. For the tale of the tape; the TSX Exchange was down 1.94%, while the TSX Gold Index fell 3.8% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, plunged 3.32% with the decliners swamping the advancers by a 593 to 248 margin on a modest 168 million shares traded.

The base metals were all dripping red and plenty of it on Wednesday. Copper held steady until just before the New York open, then pitched forward on its face, with a slight late push off its intraday lows leading to a finish at $2.1411, down 7 cents.

Gold was quiet until the mid-point of London trading on Wednesday, but then commenced a long, steady decline that didn’t bottom until about 1 p.m. in New York, at which point it bounced off of $905 and inched a bit higher through the Globex to finish at $909.10/oz., down $15.00. Overnight, gold is edging higher.

The base metals were mostly lower on Tuesday. Copper had rallied from the late pre-dawn hours to mid-morning, pushing past $2.27, but then fell off sharply to noon before edging a bit higher late to finish at $2.2114, down almost 2 cents.

Gold had a day of wild sentiment swings to little ultimate effect on Tuesday, originally drifting lower in the far East, spiking sharply in early London trading to its intraday high of $932, falling to the noon hour in New York, rallying back to the end of the Comex, and finally selling off again on the Globex to finish at $924.10/oz., down 80 cents. Overnight, gold has slipped lower.