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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score on Friday was a positive 111-78-121 as the TSX Venture Exchange rose 10 points to 646. Rough diamond prices edged ever so slightly lower this week, dipping 0.1 per cent from the week before according to Paul Zimnisky's global rough diamond price index. That was the good news, as Mr. Zimnisky readjusts earlier data based on late-to-arrive information, and this week he pushed the past few weeks' trend line downward by about a full percentage point.

Accordingly, rough prices are now 6.1 per cent below their all-time high, reached in mid-February. Then, just five months ago, diamantaires and analysts were roundly cheering a seemingly inevitable increase in prices, as Vladimir Putin's legions of tanks rumbled into Ukraine. Today, although Russia's diamond industry reels under the weight of Western sanctions, rough prices continue to fall, leaving those offering predictions a bit flummoxed.

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