The Toronto stock market gave up early gains Monday as traders looked beyond the weekend vote that saw an overwhelming number of Crimeans opt to break from Ukraine and join Russia.
The S&P/TSX composite index dipped 1.33 points to greet noon at 14,226.33, after spending much of the morning in positive territory
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.41 cents at 90.51 cents U.S.
Meanwhile, Imperial Oil is selling its interest in assets located in Boundary Lake, Cynthia/West Pembina, and Rocky Mountain House in Western Canada to Whitecap Resources Inc. for approximately $855 million.
These assets produced about 15,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day in 2013 on a net before royalty basis. Production is split evenly between oil and gas. Imperial shares added three cents to $51.10.
And the Wall Street Journal reported that gas giant Encana is in advanced talks to sell its Wyoming natural-gas fields to private-equity firm Carlyle Group for about $2 billion.
Encana has been looking to sell its holdings in the Jonah Field as it shifts its focus away from natural gas to drilling for more valuable oil and natural-gas liquids. Its shares ran up 21 cents to $22.67.
The TSX base metals sector advanced as copper rose after a string of negative data from China sent prices dropping by 8% last week. The May copper contract in New York rose one cent to $2.96 U.S. a pound.
The industrials and financial sectors also lifted the Toronto market.
The gold sector declined as gold prices edged lower after nervous investors seeking safety pushed prices ahead last week.
On the economic beat, Canadian investors bolstered their holdings by $2.3 billion of foreign securities in January, a fourth straight improvement. At the same time, foreign investors acquired $1.1 billion of Canadian securities, led by equities.
The Canadian Real Estate Association reported this morning that national home sales edged up 0.3% from January to February. Non-seasonally adjusted activity stood 1.9% above February 2013 levels. The number of newly listed homes edged up 0.6% from January to February.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange stayed positive 4.77 points to 1,038.41
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups were still higher midday, led by metals and mining stocks, up 1.5%, global base metals, up 1%, and industrials, up 0.8%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed mostly by gold, down 1.8%, materials, off 1%, and energy stocks, trailing 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks surged Monday even as the West imposed sanctions on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ballooned 190.44 points, or 1.2%, to 16,256.11
The S&P 500 index gained 18.44 points to 1,859.57. The NASDAQ spiked 44.88 points to 4,290.28.
On the corporate front, some tech stocks got a boost from their early investments in some hotly anticipated initial public offerings.
Sina shares bounced after the Chinese media conglomerate's Weibo subsidiary filed to go public Friday. Beijing-based Weibo, with over 61 million users as of December, is considered the Twitter of China.
And Yahoo shares jumped Monday after Chinese internet giant Alibaba said over the weekend that it plans to go public in the U.S. Yahoo! owns a stake in Alibaba, a company which has been compared to Amazon and eBay and is expected to raise as much as $15 billion U.S.
Keurig Green Mountain shares popped Monday on the announcement that the company will join the S&P 500.
Shares of Sears rose after the struggling retailer's board approved the spinoff of its Lands' End business.
Initial results show Crimeans who voted in a Sunday referendum overwhelmingly supported the idea of breaking from Ukraine to join Russia. The results were expected -- and the West maintained the referendum was illegal. Moscow strongly backed the vote.
European Union officials on Monday agreed to sanctions on 21 individuals that include both travel bans and asset freezes. There are worries that sanctions risk escalating a trade war would hit the global economy.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries subsided, raising yields to 2.68% from Friday’s 2.64%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped $1.12 to $97.77 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices faded $2.10 to $1,376.90 U.S. an ounce.
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