There are different possibilities to the, “Painting of the Close,” that has been seen on a frequent basis with KRY sp, at least on NYSE. It is speculation, at its best. But, hey, let’s give ‘er a shot anyways. Kinda long winded, so if you're hanging' out just waiting for a permit, or something like that, it may be worth continuing...

Toronto uses a modified Market Maker system. Nearly every trade (70%+) that is made is actually with a Market Maker in Toronto. Therefore, your trade is most likely directly with one of the many Market Makers, and not another trader. Manipulation is possible. I do not watch Toronto, so have not witnessed the “Painting of the Close,” there, if there is one.

NYSE uses a Specialist system that is more auctions based. The Specialist steps in infrequently, on average 10% of the time, and sometimes as often as 15%. Therefore, for the most part, any trade made on NYSE is directly with another trader. A lot less percentage of middleman involvement compared to the Market Maker system, and much more difficult to manipulate. However, the paints are sometimes too obvious.

As far as who is doing it, and for what reasons, could be as varied as the opinions of the many individuals on this board. A motivated seller would keep the price looking good so that he can sell at the best price. However, eventually the price would dump when the seller goes away – and he would eventually go away by running out of shares to sell. But, this seems to be lasting too long. Then again, maybe not because there are some share holders with a whole lotta shares out there.

The Optimist in me says it could be support of a Big Guy who is adament about his holding and encourages others to buy in by propping the sp. It really is not a large cash outlay for a Big Guy to protect his position, or at least make it appear to be a reasonable position to continue holding. Possibly that Big Guy is KRY management itself (in the most roundabout of ways) keeping the sp buoyed up. Though subversive, it may be the only way someone can give shareholder support at this stage. (Boy, is that comment going to get the opinions rolling) ;-)

Anyway, this stock has been behaving as normal as normal can be for the Market conditions. Although it is a total and complete speculative play “lotto-ticket-trifecta” on Chavez, this stock has been running with the other gold stocks. Kinda surprising in this Market, where there are many other speculative plays that are very predicable in their sp pops and drops. For the most part it seems to react later than the rest of the field.

I am not seeing the previous apparent obvert manipulation as might have been considered in the past. Do not get me wrong - the, “Painting of the Close,” may very well be a red flag warning. Even then, it is all speculation as to what is really going on, and if it is some sort of manipulation.