VANCOUVER, BC--(MARKET WIRE)--Dec 4, 2006 -- Ascendant Copper Corporation (TSX:ACX.TO - News) (Berlin:A0HMLE.BE - News) ("Ascendant" or the "Company") announced today the assay results from the first three diamond drill holes at its Chaucha copper project, Ecuador. These three exploration diamond drill holes were located along the southeastern edge of previously drilled zones of the Naranjos chalcocite enrichment zone. In the Micon International Co. Limited Technical Report (2), the Naranjos supergene blanket is estimated to have the drill indicated potential mineralization of 129 MT of 0.4% to 0.5% Cu and 0.02% to 0.03% Mo at a cut off of 0.3% Cu. This resource is based on 126 shallow (averaging approximately 100M in depth), small diameter (AX and BX) drilling accomplished by governmental agencies in the 1970s.

These three new exploration drill holes which were drilled to significantly greater depths discovered an extensive, well-developed, stockwork primary porphyry copper mineralization. The hydrothermal, primary copper and molybdenum mineralization is continuous and uniform in intensity from near the top of all three holes to bottom depths. Although no significant secondary enrichment was encountered, the style, intensity and uniformity of mineralization encountered suggest the presence of a major porphyry copper deposit lying to the south of the currently known Naranjos copper resource

Proving, perhaps, that the weather has more to do with oil prices than Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries does, crude oil prices dropped on Monday after the National Weather Service in the United States said that temperatures in most parts of the US will likely be above normal for the next two weeks. The prices were down even though both Saudi Arabia’s oil minister and the president of OPEC made comments implying that the organization thinks the market is still oversupplied and that it will cut production again later this month.
Brent crude for January deliver was down 95 cents to $63.67 per barrel. Meanwhile, January contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude was 97 cents lower to $62.46 per barrel after dropping as far as $61.90 per barrel earlier in the session.
In the metals markets, gold dropped 0.2 percent to $644.30 per troy ounce as demand for bullion as an investment has gone up even as jewelry demand has dropped as prices have risen.
Among base metals, three-month aluminium was up to $2,832.5 per tonne at one point during the session and dealers expected that it could go as high as $3,000 per tonne before December options expire on Wednesday. By the end of the session, however, aluminium ended up 0.3 percent lower to $2,809.5 per tonne. Nickel dropped 1 percent to $22,550 per tonne, while copper was steady at $7,000 per tonne despite an increase of 4,500 tonnes in London Metal Exchange inventories.
Base metals prices were mixed, however, as zinc was 1.4 percent higher to $4,460 per tonne and lead gained 2.6 percent to $1,739 per tonne as LME stockpiles fell by 1,325 tonnes.

PRECIOUS METALS REVIEW - 12/01/06

A slowing U.S. economy . . . increasing inflation . . . a falling U.S.
Dollar . . . and rising gold and silver prices dominated the financial
news this week. On Tuesday, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke commented on an
"uncomfortably high" core inflation rate and said that inflation risks
still remain on the horizon. And, although the Commerce Department on
Thursday announced real consumer spending rose in October following two
"lukewarm months," there was news that other sectors of the U.S.
economy have not fared as well: Sales of new homes fell 3.2% in October
according to a Commerce Department report on Wednesday . . . while the
National Association of Realtors said on Tuesday that prices of existing
homes sold in October fell for the third straight month. The Labor
Department announced on Thursday that U.S. workers filing initial jobless
claims climbed by the highest amount in more than a year last week. On
Tuesday, the government reported that durable goods orders for expensive
items like cars and refrigerators posted the biggest drop in more than
six years in October. On Friday, the Institute of Supply Management
released a report showing that U.S. manufacturing shrank in November for
the first time in over three years. On Friday, the U.S. Dollar fell
sharply against other currencies, touching a new 20-month low against the
euro and a 14-year low versus the British pound.

In the precious metals markets this week . . .

GOLD:
Monex spot gold prices opened the week at $641 . . . traded as high as
$649 on Friday and as low as $633 on Tuesday . . . and the Monex AM
settlement price on Friday was $645, up $16 for the week. Gold support is
now anticipated at $637, then $630, and then $614.50 . . . and
resistance anticipated at $648.50, then $664, and then $682.

SILVER:
Monex spot silver prices opened the week at $13.46. . . traded as high
as $14.06 on Friday and as low as $13.44 on Tuesday . . . and the Monex
AM settlement price on Friday was $14.00, up $.96 (more than 7%) for
the week. Silver support is now anticipated at $13.85, then $13.50, and
then $13.24 . . . and resistance anticipated at $14.20, then $14.78,
and then $15.20.

PLATINUM:
Monex spot platinum prices opened the week at $1,181 . . . traded as
high as $1,185 on Monday and Tuesday and as low as $1,139 on Monday . . .
and the Monex AM settlement price on Friday was $1,157, unchanged for
the week. Platinum support is now anticipated at $1,148, then $1,130,
and then $1,097 . . . and resistance anticipated at $1,189, then $1,225,
and then $1,280.

PALLADIUM:
Monex spot palladium prices opened the week at $327 . . . traded as
high as $330 on Thursday and as low as $317 on Wednesday . . . and the
Monex AM settlement price on Friday was $327, up $3 for the week.
Palladium support is now anticipated at $322, then $315, and then $305 . . .
and resistance anticipated at $333.80, then $345, and then $360.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

From legendary market analyst and commentator Richard Russell, on his
Dow Theory Letters website this week:

"I can't emphasize strongly enough the importance of the dollar as the
world's reserve currency. Think of it -- the US continues to run
enormous trade and budget deficits, yet the rest of the world continues to
accept our fiat dollars, dollars that are not a claim on gold, dollars
that are not a claim on silver -- dollars that are not a claim on
anything! All the goods and merchandise and services that the US buys from
the rest of the world are bought with these fiat dollars. Dollars are
what the world has been trading with ever since World War II. Dollars
make up the great bulk of foreign reserves of almost every nation in the
world.

No other nation would be able to get away with what the US gets away
with. And it's all because the rest of the world accepts dollars, and
it's all because the dollar remains the world's reserve currency."

"Meanwhile . . . the US and the rest of the world are swimming in
liquidity. Private funds are in high-gear buying out corporations while
corporations are buying out or merging with other corporations. The
numbers are mind-boggling, and it appears that today's billion dollars are
simply yesterday's million dollars.

The enormous liquidity is finally beginning to trickle down to the man
on the street, which means that wages are now rising. This is worrying
Dr. Bernanke -- on the one hand it's nice to see the average family
doing better -- but on the other hand rising wages lead to inflation. A
little inflation is fine with the Fed, but rapid inflation puts the Fed
in a bad light and is not to be tolerated. The purchasing power of the
dollar may decline year decade after decade, but the death of the
dollar has got to be slow and subtle. In that manner, the populace can be
kept "dumb and passive." That's the Fed's way."




This is not a recommendation to buy or sell.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- February gold fell by $1.30 to $651.60 an ounce Friday morning after climbing more than $11 in the previous session. "The fact that the yellow metal is inaugurating December at current levels (overbought or not) is in itself an accomplishment that was not looking likely back in August," said Jon Nadler, an analyst at Kitco.com. "That such a climb was almost entirely dollar-induced remains fairly clear." March silver added 1.5 cents to $14.13 an ounce, but March copper lost 3.05 cents to $3.165 a pound.

Wheat rallies across the board! March Wheat futures closed 10 cents higher today to settle at $5.21 1/2 per bushel. Bulls were in control of the market the second the opening bell rung at the CBOT. Chicago Wheat has moved off its $5.60 high made on October 17th to test support after the news of the reduced wheat harvest spurned the rally that began mid-summer. However, the overall fundamental picture has not changed for Wheat as harvest this year is 15% lower than last year, resulting in an 11.2% decline in deliverable Wheat, stocks year over year. The collapse in the Dollar has also helped underpin the Wheat market, as export prices denominated in Dollars will look increasingly cheap to the international buyer. Momentum studies on the daily charts have March Wheat futures poised to test the upside in the short- term. Support can be found at $5.15 and $5 respectively with resistance pencilled in at $5.30 and the contract high at $5.60.
Gold futures soar on Dollar weakness. Metals prices seem to be trading in lockstep to Dollar weakness once again. The weaker Dollar/higher Gold paradigm is once again in play, as February Gold futures rallied $11.10 per ounce to close $652.90. Old resistance levels now are support, as the February Gold contract has broken out to the upside on the Dollar crashing to multi-year lows against the Pound Sterling and the Euro. The weak economic data for the US should support Gold, as the yellow metal tends to draw buyers when paper assets are unattractive. Support for Gold basis February comes in at $640 and $635 respectively, while resistance is likely to be found at $660 in the coming sessions.
Stocks rock! Neither higher energy prices nor geopolitical tension around the globe can keep corporate America down. The bulls showed life today, as December S&P futures tested the contract high of 1408.75 before selling-off into the close to finish at 1402.90, up 7 points on the day. Momentum on the daily charts is still overbought, but still pointing higher. The S&P 500 index is subject to selling pressure, but the bulls still are in control, as tests of support have found buyers in the face of bad economic news all over the headlines. The December S&P contract has support at 1400, 1390, and 1385 respectively. Resistance can be found at the contract highs of $1408.75. XPRESSTRADE Analyst Carl Christensen .

Hot Stove SeasonWhile baseball fans in the Northeast may no longer gather around hot wood-burning stoves to warm their hands while debating the merits of trades and signings in anticipation of spring training, many are turning up the thermostat in their oil-heated homes as the temperatures dip during the nightly broadcast of SportsCenter.
The Northeast, which includes New England and the Central Atlantic regions, has traditionally been the main region using heating oil as a residential heating fuel. In 2004, 5.5 billion gallons of heating oil were sold to residential consumers in the Northeast; this comprises 82 percent of total residential heating fuel sales in the U.S. Not only do consumers in the Northeast use heating oil more than in any other region, 78 percent of all households that use heating oil as the primary heating fuel are located in the Northeast.
EIA uses the Petroleum Allocation for Defense District (PADD) boundaries as the basis for its regional petroleum supply reporting. Heating oil (high-sulfur distillate) inventories are reported for the entire East Coast (PADD I), as well as broken down into three sub-PADDs, PADD IA (New England), PADD IB (Central Atlantic), and PADD IC (Lower Atlantic). It is not unusual to see an imbalance between the relative inventories of heating oil stocks in New England and the Central Atlantic as compared to each area’s respective level of product demand. For example, in 2005, the Central Atlantic held about 69 percent of Northeast heating oil inventories even though it only accounted for 60 percent of Northeast sales (Prime Supplier sales data are used as a proxy for implied demand.)
This phenomenon is mostly a function of the hub of petroleum and shipping infrastructure located in the New York-New Jersey corridor, which is part of the Central Atlantic region. Most imports that come in from Europe to supplement heating oil supplies enter the U.S. on the East Coast, and New York Harbor is the major East Coast hub. Other waterborne shipments from the U.S. Gulf Coast, Venezuela, and the Virgin Islands also enter into New York Harbor. Additionally, there are several pipelines that run into the region, as well as the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware refineries. There is also a high concentration of storage available in the area due to the high volume of product moving through the region. Product will often be stored in the Central Atlantic region until temperatures drop in New England, increasing demand and pulling product northward. Recognition of these factors leads EIA analysts to evaluate Northeast (New England and Central Atlantic) inventories as an aggregate rather than their individual pieces.
The charts below illustrate the history of New England and Central Atlantic inventories compared to their 5-year average range. Although inventories in both regions are above the average range prior to the first cold snap, this winter’s weather remains a key uncertainty and will be a major determinant for how quickly heating oil stocks are drawn down this winter. Additionally, inventories for the closest substitute to heating oil, diesel fuel, are relatively tight, which could put upward price pressure on both diesel fuel and heating oil if cold weather increases distillate demand sufficiently.

Reports of Ministry of Commerce asking FMC to ban Guar seed futures trading led to sharp fall in prices. Meanwhile, FMC has clarified there is no ban on futures trading in this. However, FMC may closly monitor the price movement. Currently, Indian prices quoting higher, which is affecting exporters. Prices may remain lower in the short term