The Toronto stock market was lower Tuesday amid falling mining stocks, but the TSX found support from major corporate developments in the tech, energy and health-care sectors.
The S&P/TSX composite index fought its way out of negative territory Tuesday to finish unchanged at 13,361.78
The Canadian dollar slid 0.32 cents at 95.63 cents U.S.
Shares of Encana Corp. were up after the natural gas giant said it will create a new public company that will focus on southern Alberta. The Calgary-based company also announced a cut in its quarterly dividend to seven cents from 20 cents and that it would slash its workforce by 20% as it struggles with persistently low prices. Encana shares gained 62 cents, or 3.3%, to $19.21.
Shares in Open Text ran ahead $7.77, or 10%, to $85.32 as the software company said that it is buying U.S.-based cloud technology provider GXS Group in a cash-and-stock deal valued at approximately $1.17 billion. GXS Group Inc. a will become a subsidiary of Open Text based in Waterloo, Ont.
And in the health sector, Endo Health signed a deal to buy Canadian specialty drug maker Paladin Labs in a cash-and-stock deal worth about $1.6 billion. Both Endo and Montreal-based Paladin will then be folded into a newly formed Irish holding company. Paladin stock soared $31.59, or 49.4%, to $95.50.
The gold sector led decliners. Iamgold lost 21 cents to $5.18.
The TSX energy sector was lower while Canadian Natural Resources lost 21 cents to $32.42.
The TSX base metals sector was off with December copper up a cent at $3.26 U.S. a pound.
Silver Wheaton Corp. has signed a deal to acquire half of the gold produced by Hudbay Minerals Inc. at the Constancia mining project, currently under construction in southern Peru. Silver Wheaton added 30 cents to $23.32 while HudBay shares were ahead 23 cents to $8.83.
Financials also dragged as Sun Life Financial inched up only two cents to $35.32. Traders are also absorbing a run of corporate earnings reports this week.
On Tuesday, WestJet Airlines Ltd. said net income in the third quarter was $65.1 million or 50 cents a share, a decline of 7.8% from the same time last year but two cents better than expected. Total revenue grew to $924.8 million from $866.5 million a year earlier, an increase of 6.7% and its shares added 20 cents to $27.50.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 36.86 points to 945.66
Of the 14 TSX subgroups, eight were negative, led by gold, down 1.1%, real-estate, down 0.7%, and materials, off 0.5%
The half-dozen gainers were led by information technology, up 3.2%, health-care, up 0.9%, and the metals and mining sector, up 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks are still hovering near all-time highs. But investors had no reason to do much other than watch and wait Tuesday.
The Dow Jones Industrials remained negative 20.90 points to finish Tuesday at 15,618.20
The S&P 500 index lost 4.96 points to 1,762.97. The NASDAQ recovered 3.27 points to 3,939.86
Investors did have a slew of earnings reports from top companies to parse through.
AOL was the big winner Tuesday. The online media company's stock spiked more than 8%, despite a sharp drop in profits. Investors looked more closely at the company's double-digit advertising revenue growth.
Michael Kors also soared on better-than-expected earnings. The fashion retailer also raised its outlook.
CVS surged on positive earnings, hitting its all-time high. Its results also pulled up shares of drug store rival Walgreen
DirecTV didn't fare as well. Its stock tumbled, despite reporting a rise in profits and new subscriber growth.
Tesla Motors and 21st Century Fox are due to report results in the afternoon.
Investors are eagerly awaiting Tesla's results. The electric car maker's stock has been one of the hottest market performers this year.
It's the busiest week for IPOs since 2006, according to Renaissance Capital. 15 companies are expected to debut this week.
Of course the IPO that everyone is watching is Twitter, which is expected to price its offering on Wednesday evening and begin trading Thursday. But one trader noted that Twitter is nowhere near as popular as social networking giant Facebook
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury slumped, raising yields to 2.66% from Monday’s 2.60%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped $1.25 to $93.39 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices skidded $4.40 to $1,310.10 U.S. an ounce.
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