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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score on Friday was a rousing 138-61-111 although the TSX Venture Exchange leapt 11 points to 571. The stalemate between supply and demand continues, according to Paul Zimnisky's global rough diamond price index. Mr. Zimnisky set his index at 149.0 points this week, a 0.1-point increase over last week -- a value left unchanged by late-to-arrive data. And so, rough prices have now been flattish for the past month, with perhaps a 0.1-per-cent increase from late January.

Why is unclear -- unlike the explanations for chart movements over the past year. Rough diamond prices bubbled from COVID-induced lows in the spring of 2020 to an all-time high in February of 2022, when Mr. Zimnisky set his index at 207.3 points, about 28.2 per cent higher than now. That bubble burst and prices retreated briskly through the rest of 2022, then mounted a modest advance late that year and early into 2023 thanks to the normal restocking required after holiday jewellery sales.

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