The Toronto stock was narrowly in the green Thursday, as commodity stocks advanced alongside higher prices for metals and oil amid some encouraging news from the U.S. labour front.
The S&P TSX Composite Index squeezed out a gain of 5.06 points to close the session at 11,653.18, well off its highs for the day.
The overall index was restricted by the financial sector after Canada’s biggest bank -- and the index’s heaviest weighted stock -- missed earnings expectations.
Shares in Royal Bank declined $1.74 to $48.95 as the bank reported its third-quarter net profits fell 18% to $1.28 billion.
National Bank, Canada’s sixth-biggest bank, said its net profits faltered to $271 million from $303 million for the same period last year. Like the other big banks, performance was held back by a weak showing in its capital markets operations.
National said it earned $1.57 a share excluding extraordinary items for the third quarter ended July 31, which was five cents better than analysts expected and its shares ran ahead $2.31 to $57.96.
Elsewhere in the banking sector, Bank of Montreal reported profits on Tuesday that were up by 20% during the quarter but fell short of estimates. BMO forged ahead a dime to $56.44.
And on Wednesday, CIBC reported earnings of $640 million, which beat expectations and were up 47% from a year ago. CIBC stock fell 77 cents to $69.31.
Elsewhere on the TSX, commodity prices rose following a number of declines on demand worries. Among energy issues, Imperial Oil declined 17 cents to $38.32.
The base metals sector improved as the September copper contract on the Nymex rose 10 cents to $3.31 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources slumped 24 cents at $33.49 and Equinox Minerals climbed 11 cents to $4.44.
In the gold sector, Kinross Gold Corp. gained 35 cents to $16.97.
Shares in Enbridge Inc. fell 36 cents to $52.34 as the company announced that it has entered into an agreement with Suncor Energy to construct a new, 95-kilometre crude oil pipeline in Alberta.
Suncor shares gained 15 cents to $32.13.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada said average non-farm weekly earnings rose by 4%, the fastest year-over-year increase since February 2008.
The Canadian dollar added 0.34 cents to 94.65 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Nine of the 14 TSX subgroups were higher on Thursday. Gold led the parade 1% higher, followed by materials, up 0.9% and industrials, ahead 0.7%.
The five laggards were weighed down mostly by financials and global base metals, off 0.8% each. Information technology stocks slid 0.4%.
The TSX Venture Exchange moved upward 6.14 points to 1,468.92, while the Nasdaq Canada index fell back, however, 5.55 points to 573.37.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks slipped on Thursday, erasing earlier gains, as worries about a slowing economy overshadowed an upbeat report on jobless claims.
The Dow Jones industrial average faded 74.25 points to 9,985.81.
The S&P 500 index faded 8.11 points to 1,047.22. The tech-rich Nasdaq composite index gave back 22.85 points to 2,118.69
An earlier bounce lost steam as investors turned their focus to the economy, bracing for the latest reading on second-quarter gross domestic product due early Friday. GDP, the broadest gauge of economic activity, is expected to show the economy grew much less than previously estimated.
The three major indexes finished higher Wednesday after spending most of the session in the red following an unexpected plunge in new home sales.
Economic gloom continued to hang over investors Thursday, with losers outnumbering winners by nearly two-to-one on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq. Declines were broad-based, with big names like Intel losing more than 1%, while winners included Boeing and First Solar
PC-maker Dell said data-storage company 3PAR has accepted its $1.6-billion U.S. takeover bid, sending shares of 3PAR down more than 2%.
Shares of Toyota slumped 1.5% after the automaker said it will recall more than one million Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles due to engine problems.
The Federal Aviation Administration proposed a $24-million U.S. fine against American Airlines.
The airline said it will challenge the civil penalty, which would be the largest fine in FAA's history. Shares of AMR Corp., which owns American Airlines, fell nearly 1%.
The U.S. government Thursday released its weekly numbers on first-time unemployment filers. The Labor Department said jobless claims fell to 473,000 last week, which was lower than expected.
Analysts polled by Briefing.com had expected Thursday's report to show new claims fell to 485,000 last week.
Treasury prices moved slightly upward, lowering yields for the benchmark 10-year note to 2.50% from Wednesday’s 2.54%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil moved up 71 cents to $73.23 U.S.
Gold prices settled back two dollars to $1,240 U.S. an ounce.
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