The Toronto stock market was little changed Wednesday as investors looked for direction and markets digested solid gains from the previous session.
The S&P TSX Composite Index increased 13.51 points to close at 11,921.05
The gold sector was ahead as Goldcorp Inc. edged up 76 cents to $45.16.
Among industrials, Bombardier Transportation has won a contract with Swiss Railways to supply new double-deck trains for inter-city travel. The contract for 59 Bombardier Twindexx trains, with options for 100 more, has a total value of around $1.6 billion U.S. Its shares were eight cents higher to $4.91.
The base metals sector was flat as the July copper contract on the Nymex was unchanged at $3 U.S. a pound. Lundin Mining Corp. were flat at $3.80.
A billion-dollar deal between a Chinese company and a Vancouver mining firm, announced in March, has come undone. Quadra FNX Mining Ltd. said Wednesday it was unable to reach a definitive agreement with State Grid International Development Ltd., which was to invest $900 million in a joint venture to develop Quadra projects in Chile. Quadra FNX shares fell 13 cents to $12.45.
The TSX energy sector was also little changed, as Suncor Energy climbed 34 cents to $34.82.
Crude prices had earlier been negative came after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported an increase of 1.7 million barrels from the week ended June 11. Analysts surveyed by Platts expected a decrease of around 1.75 million barrels.
Prices ran ahead more than $3 U.S. over the past two sessions on expectations the data would show supplies falling, indicating that demand was improving along with the economic recovery.
The tech and consumer discretionary segments declined with Research In Motion Ltd. down $1.50 to $62.99. The stock had surged about 5% Tuesday following a report that the BlackBerry maker is working on a media tablet to compete with Apple’s iPad.
Shares in auto parts company Magna International fell $3.92 to $69.44 after the Ontario Securities Commission said Tuesday that it wants to block a plan to eliminate a dual-class share structure at the firm that will see founder and chairman Frank Stronach receive millions in return.
The provincial regulator said shareholders are being asked to approve the plan without sufficient information to form a reasoned judgment -- a position that Magna disputes.
Sceptre Investment Counsel Limited and Fiera Capital Inc. say they have signed a definitive agreement to merge the two companies into a bigger money manager with $30 billion in assets. The share swap deal is worth $72.8 million at Tuesday’s closing stock price for Sceptre on the TSX.
Sceptre shares ran ahead $1.41, or 27.1% to $6.61.
In economic news, the Canadian Real Estate Association said sales of existing homes in the nation fell 9.5% to 37,576 units in May. Meanwhile, the national average price rose 8.5% in May on a year-over-year basis.
The Canadian dollar regained 0.12 cents to 97.55 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 14 TSX subgroups, gainers nosed out losers eight to six. Gold improved 0.8%, while materials tacked on 0.6%, likewise, metals and mining.
The half-dozen losers were weighed mostly by information technology, off 1.1%, while health-care faded 0.9% and consumer discretionaries fell 0.8%.
The TSX Venture Exchange nipped ahead 0.35 points to 1,461.86, while the Nasdaq Canada index fell 9.92 points to 698.24
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks recovered from deep losses Wednesday and finished a choppy session near the previous day's closing levels as investors considered mixed economic news and BP's agreement to establish a $20-billion U.S. escrow fund and cancel its quarterly dividend.
The Dow Jones industrial average squeaked into the green 4.69 points by the closing bell to 10,409.46
The S&P 500 index fell 0.62 points to 1,114.61. The Nasdaq composite index moved up 0.05 points to 2,305.93.
Stocks gained Tuesday as fears about Europe's debt crisis continued to fade and the euro rallied, rising above the $1.23 U.S. level for the first time in more than a week. The three major indexes added more than 2% and finished above key milestone levels.
That momentum initially diminished Wednesday as investors faced disappointing economic reports and less-than-stellar corporate news. But it began to resurface after Obama administration officials confirmed that BP agreed to put roughly $20 billion U.S. in an escrow account to payout claims from the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
President Obama met with BP executives in the White House on Wednesday, including CEO Tony Hayward and the company's chairman, Carl Henric Svanberg.
Following the summit, the company announced it is canceling its quarterly dividend for the rest of the year, and promised it would revisit the issue next year.
In his first address from the Oval Office, the president told the nation Tuesday night he will make BP pay for the costs of cleaning up the oil disaster. He also pushed Congress to move on clean energy legislation.
Shares of BP finished up 1.4%.
Earlier Wednesday, stocks slipped on worse-than-expected housing news and a tempered outlook from FedEx.
And while FedEx posted a fiscal fourth-quarter profit Wednesday morning, the shipping giant said it expects earnings for fiscal 2011 to be "constrained" due to higher costs. The news sent the company's shares down nearly 6% and pressured the broader market earlier in the session.
Mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have been overseen by the government since September 2008, were ordered by their federal regulator to delist from the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of both were closed nearly 40% lower.
Nokia shares plunged more than 10% after the tech company cautioned investors that its cell phone business will post weaker-than-expected second-quarter results, due July 22.
Economically, the Commerce Department reported that new home construction sank 10% in May -- the first month after a homebuyer tax credit expired -- to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 593,000.
Building permits, a measure of builder confidence, also fell sharply, dropping 5.9% from the previous month.
Another report showed that the Producer Price index, a key measure of wholesale inflation, fell 0.3% in May after slipping 0.1% in April. The so-called Core PPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.2%. Economists thought Core PPI would rise 0.1%.
The Federal Reserve reported that industrial production climbed 1.2% in May, after rising 0.7% the previous month. Economists were expecting the figure to edge up 0.8%.
Treasury prices moved slightly upward, lowering the 10-year note's yield to 3.28% from 3.31% Tuesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions
The price of a barrel of oil regained 57 cents to $77.51 U.S.
Gold prices gained back one dollar to $1,232 U.S. an ounce
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