Equity markets were little changed just after the opening bell on Monday, though shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International rose after the company increased its takeover offer for Salix Pharmaceuticals .
The S&P/TSX composite index settled 3.91 points, to open the week at 14,727.59
The Canadian dollar gathered 0.14 cents to 78.31 cents U.S.
Barrick Gold may put its Chilean copper mine on the block as the Canadian miner tries to meet an ambitious debt reduction target, the Financial Times reported. Barrick shares dipped 27 cents, or 2%, to $13.29.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International plans to raise its bid for Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd close to $170.00 per share. Valeant shares hiked $6.49, or 2.6% to $258.78.
Seeking to extend its range of secure mobile devices, BlackBerry said on Saturday it was launching a high-security tablet, developed with IBM and Samsung Electronics. BlackBerry eked ahead 10 cents to $12.62.
Canaccord Genuity cut the target price on B2Gold to $3.50 from $4.00. B2 Gold dropped two cents to $1.84.
UBS raised the target price on Canadian National Railway to $93.00 from $86.00. Shares in the carrier gained 87 cents, or 1%, to $87.24.
Raymond James initiated coverage on IAMGOLD with a market perform rating. IAMGOLD inched back eight cents, or 3.3%, to $2.36.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that Canadian investors reduced their holdings of foreign securities by a monthly record $10.8 billion in January, following a $13.9-billion investment in December.
Meanwhile, foreign investors resumed their acquisitions of Canadian securities by adding $5.7 billion worth to their portfolios.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 2.18 points to 666.78
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups gained ground to begin Monday, as health-care spiked 2%, consumer staples improved 0.9%, and utilities were better by 0.7%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by energy stocks, dropping off 2.1%, metals and mining, shedding 1.4%, and gold, losing 1.3% of its luster.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded higher on Monday, as investors eyed weakness in the dollar and oil prices ahead of Wednesday's key Federal Reserve meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrials leaped 177.76 points, or 1%, to 17,927.07, with UnitedHealth leading advancers and DuPont the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 recovered 18.67 points to 2,072.05, with health care leading eight sectors higher and energy the greatest laggard.
The NASDAQ index added 37.67 points to 4,909.43
MSG Chief Executive Officer Tad Smith has left that job to take the CEO job at Sotheby's. He'll be replaced on an interim basis at MSG by James Dolan, the president and CEO of MSG parent Cablevision and the Executive Chairman of MSG.
UBS cut earnings estimates for Microsoft, citing weaker than expected PC demand, ongoing mobile challenges, and the impact of foreign currency.
Scripps Network Interactive struck a deal to buy a majority stake in Polish broadcaster TVN for $615 million U.S.
A judge gave preliminary approval to the settlement of a lawsuit by Hewlett-Packard shareholders over its ill-fated acquisition of British software firm Autonomy. HP bought Autonomy for more than $11 billion U.S. in 2011, but then had to take an $8.8-billion U.S. writeoff a year later.
Netflix was downgraded to sell from hold at Evercore, pointing to an intensely competitive environment for the video streaming service.
BP will invest $12 billion U.S. in Egypt in a project that will produce the equivalent of three billion barrels of oil.
The U.S. dollar index fell nearly 1% on Monday to below 100. The index gained nearly 3% in the last week as the euro fell to 12-year lows below $1.05.
Home builder confidence fell two points to 53 in March, down from a high of 59 last September.
Before the bell, the Empire State Index posted 6.90 for March, below February's 7.78. Industrial production rose 0.1% in February, below expectations, with capacity utilization slightly lower at 78.9%.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained ground, lowering yields back up to 2.07% from Friday’s 2.11%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices subsided 89 cents to $43.95 U.S.
Gold prices strengthened $4.60 to $1,157.00 U.S.
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