Thursday, March 11, 2010

04:37 pm EST
TSX fairly flat
Health-care leads T.O. stocks

Toronto's main index was little changed in afternoon trading, as traders digested a slew of economic data from Canada, the U.S. and China.

The S&P/TSX composite index ended the session up 18.64 points to 11,979.70.

Traders were cautious amid worries that China may resort to more tightening measures, including interest rate hikes, to slow down economic growth in the context of rising inflation.

The Gold Index gained ground with Barrick Gold Corp. up 0.9% to $40.04 and Yamana Gold Inc. up 1% to $10.30.

Financial stocks were a mixed lot. RBC rose 0.5% to $58.10 and Sun Life Financial Inc. added 0.8% to $31.80, while Scotiabank gave in 0.4% to $48.95 and Laurentian Bank was down 0.8% to $43.62.

The Telecommunications Index was down, as BCE Inc. lost 2.4% to $30.55, Telus Corp. eased 1.1% to $36.00 and Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. shed 2.8% to $32.09.

In the energy sector, Imperial Oil Ltd. rose 0.8% to $39.67. Encana Corp. was down 1.3% to $34.65.

Oil and gas explorer Crew Energy Inc., which announced plans to sell its assets in the Edson area of Alberta for $126 million, added 6.6% to $16.27.

Crescent Point Energy Corp., which reported fourth-quarter net loss of $4.0 million compared to net income of $361.4 million last year, lost 0.8% to $38.74.

OccuLogix, Inc., dba TearLab Corporation surged 21.5% to $3.50. The ophthalmic device company announced Wednesday that eye-care services company TLCVision Corporation would incorporate OccuLogix' TearLab Osmolarity System, used to diagnose dry eye disease, in eight of its refractive surgery centers in the U.S.

In economic news, Statistics Canada said the country's trade surplus was wider than expected in January at $799 million compared to $75 million in December. It also said merchandise exports in the country grew 0.5% in January.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.13 cents at 97.64 cents U.S.

ON BAYSTREET

Of the 14 TSX subgroups, eight found their way into positive country. Health-care stocks were 1.5% more robust to lead the way, followed by gold, up 0.8%, and utilities gained 0.4%.

The half-dozen losing groups were weighed by telecoms, off 0.9%, industrials, sinking 0.4% and metals and mining, listing lower by 0.2%.

The TSX Venture Exchange picked up 4.14 points to 1,560.94, while the Nasdaq Canada index recovered 9.48 points to 810.58.

ON WALLSTREET

In New York, stocks mustered gains late Thursday, near the end of a choppy session, as investors eyed mixed economic news and a fluctuating U.S. dollar in the wake of the recent market advance.

The Dow Jones industrial average charged ahead 44.51 points by the final buzzer to 10,611.84.

The S&P 500 index gained 4.63 points to 1,150.24, and the Nasdaq composite moved forward by 9.51 points to 2,368.46.

Stocks have been on an upswing lately, posting gains over the last month. More recently, the Dow has risen in seven of the last nine sessions and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have risen in eight of the last nine sessions.

"The market is taking a pause after having a positive bias over the last few weeks," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott.

He said investors are in a void between the rush of fourth-quarter earnings reports, which wound down two weeks ago, and the start of first-quarter earnings reports, which is still over a month away.

Further stock gains will be determined by earnings and revenue growth and the transition between a government-stimulus driven economy and one driven by fundamentals, he said.

"It all comes down to the consumer and jobs, and today's jobs report was maybe a little disappointing," he said.

China's growth in the aftermath of the recession has already caused officials to limit bank lending and this report could add to pressure to start raising interest rates. China is the third-largest economy in the world and a big importer of goods.

A slew of corporations have announced mergers over the last few weeks as economic optimism has started to creep back into place.

On Thursday, BP said it will pay Devon Energy $7 billion U.S. for exploration rights in Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caspian Sea.

Economically speaking, the Labor Department reported that weekly jobless claims fell to 462,000 in the week ended March 6.

The number of new unemployment filers was expected to have fallen to 460,000, according to a consensus of economist forecasts from Briefing.com.

But the number of people filing continuing claims rose to 4,558,000 in the week ended Feb. 27, the most recent data available. That was up 37,000 from the preceding week's upwardly revised 4,521,000 claims.

Also, the Census Bureau reported that the trade gap narrowed to $37.3 billion in January, from the revised figure of $39.9 billion the prior month.

This was significantly less than expected. The bureau was forecast to report that the January trade gap widened to $41 billion U.S. from $40.2 billion U.S. in December.

A report on foreclosure rates showed an increase on a year-over-year basis but the pace slowed.

Foreclosures were up 6% in February from a year earlier, marking the smallest jump since RealtyTrac began calculating year-over-year increases in January 2006.

Treasury prices moved upwards, thus lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 3.71% from 3.72% late Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The price of a barrel of oil added 16 cents to $82.25 U.S.

Gold prices were flat at $1,108 U.S.