The Toronto stock market continued its climb Thursday, boosted by a second day of solid gains from copper and gold prices and strong earnings reports from the retail, resource and tech sectors.
The S&P/TSX index advanced 59.08 points to finish Thursday at 12,329.51, as traders picked up stocks beaten down in a 2.2% tumble last week.
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.45 cents at 97.97 cents U.S.
May copper gained eight cents to $3.24 U.S. a pound following a six-cent run Wednesday after Goldman Sachs said the outlook for copper prices are expected to rebound in the next three months.
The rising copper price is also being driven by hopes that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates to stimulate the economy next Thursday. Teck Resources took on 25 cents to close at $27.05.
In Canada, Imperial Oil Ltd. said its first-quarter net income was down 21% from a year ago, mainly because of a wider discount on the price of bitumen produced at its Cold Lake oilsands operation. The company’s profit fell by $217 million to $798 million, or 94 cents per share, down from $1.19 or about $1 billion a year earlier. Its shares were up 14 cents to $40.23.
The energy sector rose as positive jobless news helped send the June crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange up.
The techs sector grew as Open Text charged ahead $7.19, or 12.5%, to $64.93 as it announced plans Wednesday to start paying a quarterly dividend of 30 cents a share starting in June.
At the same time, the company reported lower net profit of $25.8 million U.S. in its third quarter compared with $34.7 million U.S. in the same period last year.
BlackBerry dipped 11 cents to $15.14 following gains earlier in the day.
The consumer staples group was also positive. Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. earned $119.5 million or 59 cents per share on sales of $2.49 billion in its latest quarter compared with a profit of $118.8 million or 56 cents per share on sales of $2.39 billion a year ago.
Same-store sales were up 2.5% for the quarter. Its shares gained 26 cents to $44.96.
Elsewhere on the earnings front, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. is reporting an improved first-quarter profit, with $556 million or 63 cents per share of net income that beat analyst estimates.
However, the company’s guidance for the second quarter is estimated at 70 to 85 cents per share, which was below the consensus estimate of 89 cents per share, its 2013 guidance remains unchanged at between $275 and $3.25 per share. Its shares were up $1.05, or 2.6%, to $41.69.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange was stronger by 12.97 points to 964.67
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher by day’s end, led by metals and mining, up 3.2%, while information technology stocks leaped 2.6%, and materials jumped 1.8%.
The three laggards were telecoms, 0.4% to the bad, real-estate, sliding 0.2%, and financials, off 0.02%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks held onto gains Thursday, as investors digested a better-than-expected jobless claims report and another influx of earnings reports.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 24.50 points to end the session at 14,700.80.
The S&P 500 index climbed 5.06 to 1,583.85. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite soared 20.33 points to 3,289.99
Trading has been choppy recently as investors take their cues from mixed economic data and company specific news. The year got off to a great start so some gyrating is to be expected, though most analysts still expect stocks to keep grinding higher.
In fact, all three indexes are still up between 9% and 13% so far this year as individual investors tentatively step back in.
Exxon Mobil beat earnings forecasts but sales declined from a year earlier and fell short of estimates.
UPS also reported a jump in quarterly earnings, helped by domestic shipping.
Shares of Safeway tumbled 14%, as investors focused on weaker-than-expected sales even though the grocer reported a higher quarterly profit.
Dow Chemical reported better-than-expected earnings, fueled by sales of agricultural products.
Shares of Zynga fell nearly 7%, only a day after the online gaming company issued a gloomy forecast.
3M was the biggest drag on the Dow, after the company missed profit and revenue expectations and lowered its 2013 earnings outlook.
Amazon and Starbucks report their results after the close.
Elsewhere, Verizon Communications drew attention after Reuters reported the company had hired advisers to look at a possible $100-billion U.S. bid to take full control of Verizon Wireless from Vodafone Group Vodafone and Verizon declined to comment.
Economically speaking, the U.S. government announced that initial jobless claims dropped to 339,000 in the latest week, significantly lower than the 351,000 claims that economists were predicting.
Prices on the 10-year U.S. Treasury slumped a bit, raising yields to 1.71% from Wednesday’s 1.70%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.75 to $93.18 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices took on $40.10 to $1,452.60 U.S. an ounce
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