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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score on Thursday was an upbeat 101-73-136 as the TSX Venture Exchange added four points to 563. Rough diamond prices edged higher this week, according to Paul Zimnisky's global rough diamond price index, and there was no tardy information last week requiring him to readjust his chart. Therefore, the index now stands at 149.5 points, a 0.2-per-cent gain over a week ago. Although the curve since late January has been flattish when compared with the gyrations -- mostly negative -- over the past two years, an eagle-eyed optimist can discern a bit of a rise.

Indeed, the 52-week low was set two months ago at 148.4 points, so Mr. Zimnisky has tacked on 1.1 point, about 0.7 per cent, over the past eight weeks. That modest run is the first since the index gained about 2 per cent during the two-month voluntary moratorium on rough diamond purchases in India. (The cut in demand triggered many miners to withhold production from their sales, thereby cutting supply more than the drop in demand during the moratorium.)

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