Canadian stocks made some headway on Wednesday, recovering most of an early drop. Weakness in the healthcare and technology sectors has offset a rebound session for gold stocks.
At the end of the session, the S&P/TSX Composite had struggled into the green by 10.29 points, to 11,379.22, ending a four-day losing streak.
Health-care stocks were down, as Biovail dropped 2.9% to $14.32, MDS lost 2.9% to $7.80 and Cardiome slipped 2.3% to $4.30.
Telecom stocks are down, as Telus dropped 3.9% to $34.08 to lead the way.
Cameco Corp. gained 0.5% to $31.32 after the company said it will sell about 88.62 million common shares of Centerra Gold on a bought-deal basis at $10.25 per share. Centerra shares were off 3.6% to $10.79
Gold stocks were up, recovering some of a recent skid. Eldorado added 2.8% to $13.84, Agnico-Eagle Mines climbed 2.1% to $65.83 and Goldcorp was up 1.9% to $43.05.
In corporate news, First Quantum declined 1.7% to $74.88 after the company said it agreed to acquire the Ravensthorpe Nickel Operation in Western Australia from BHP Billiton for $340 million U.S.
EnCana Corp. gained 1.4% to $29.66 after the company said its board has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 U.S. cents per share payable on December 31, 2009 to common shareholders of record as of December 21.
Nexen dropped 1% to $23.94 after the stock was initiated at "hold" by Collins Stewart.
Xenos Group soared 64.8% to $3.46 after the company reported that its revenues for the fourth quarter increased to $4.52 million from $3.80 million in the prior year quarter.
Evertz Technologies dropped 3.9% to $13.44 after the company reported net earnings for the second quarter of $17.5 million or $0.23 per share, lower than $34.1 million or $0.46 per share in the same quarter a year-ago.
Laurentian Bank of Canada gained 0.9% to $42.48 after the lender raised its quarterly dividend to $0.36 a share from $0.34.
Canadian Natural Railway slipped 0.5% to $57.91 after being initiated at "hold" at Collins Stewart.
Harry Winston Diamond lost 1.4% to $9.43 after the company reported posted third-quarter net loss of $200,000 U.S. or breakeven per share, compared to net earnings of $71.9 million U.S. or $1.17 U.S. per share in the last-year quarter.
The Canadian dollar was ahead 0.83 cents to 94.83 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 14 TSX subgroups, nine were in negative territory to end the day. Health-care issues were 1.7% sicker, while telecoms were 0.9% off, and industrials were 0.7% to the bad.
Of the five gainers, gold was the leader, up 1.8%, materials were up 1.7%, metals and mining stocks tied with global base metals, each gaining 1%.
The TSX Venture Exchange charged ahead 7.84 points to 1,410.08, while the Nasdaq Canada index was up 24.66 points to 697.87.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, equities churned Wednesday as the dollar turned mixed, commodity prices plunged and a report showing a surprise rise in inventories tempered worries about the recovery.
The Dow Jones Industrials added 51.08 points to end the day at 10,337.05, while the S&P 500 gained 4.01 points to 1,095.95, while the Nasdaq fell 10.74 points to 2,183.73.
Wall Street retreated Tuesday as global debt woes weighed and as a stronger dollar sapped commodity prices and select stocks. But the dollar turned lower again Wednesday, helping to put a floor under stocks.
The weak dollar has helped lift stocks over the last nine months, giving a boost to dollar-traded commodity shares and the stocks of companies that do a lot of business overseas and benefit from a weaker greenback. But over the last few weeks, the dollar has seesawed.
The federal bailout plan known as TARP will be extended until Oct. 3, 2010, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Wednesday in a letter to Congress.
However, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, originally enacted in October 2008 at the height of the credit crisis, will be scaled back and refocused on newer programs designed to stop foreclosures and make loans to small businesses.
Separately, the Congressional Oversight Panel said that while TARP did help stabilize the banking system, it failed to boost spending or help stop foreclosures.
On Tuesday, President Obama proposed reallocating money not used for TARP to help create jobs and provide other help to consumers. The president is reportedly meeting with the chief executives of a number of big banks next week to try to finesse more lending to consumers.
3M rallied 3% and helped keep the Dow afloat after Citigroup upgraded it to "buy" from "hold," saying it's likely to outperform its peers over the next year and deliver superior financial returns.
Liberal and moderate Democrats have reached a deal on a number of provisions to replace the controversial public option portion of the health care bill. The agreement is considered to be a significant one as the Senate works to hammer out a bill that might garner broad support.
Economically speaking, wholesale inventories in October rose 0.3% after falling 0.8% in September. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought they'd decline 0.5%.
Treasury prices went down, raising yields to 3.42% from Tuesday’s 3.39%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil skidded $1.95 to 70.86 cents U.S.
Gold prices dipped $22 to $1,121 an ounce U.S.
Stocks make their way up
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