Toronto’s stock market was narrowly positive Monday afternoon as financial stocks advanced ahead of another batch of earnings from the big banks and while higher metal prices helped lift mining stocks.
The S&P TSX Composite Index was 15.83 points to the good, to close the day’s trading at 11,895.55.
The financial sector was buzzing ahead of earnings this week from TD Bank and Scotiabank.
The sector made a slight gain last week following a mixed bag of quarterly earnings reports from four of the big banks. CIBC and National Bank handed in earnings that beat analyst forecasts while Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank missed estimates with performance hobbled by weak capital markets.
Scotiabank is scheduled to report on Tuesday and TD Bank is due Thursday.
Traders pushed Scotiabank shares down seven cents to $51.96 while TD gained 22 cents to $72.00.
Elsewhere in the group, Bank of Montreal gained 87 cents to $58.47.
The base metals sector advanced as the September copper contract in New York grew five cents at $3.41 U.S. a pound. Quadra FNX Mining climbed 31 cents to $11.42.
Shares in First Quantum Minerals Ltd. gained $2.27 to $60.95 after it said Friday that it will suspend operations at its Frontier mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo after the government said it has taken over the mine’s titles. The Vancouver-based copper and gold miner is considering international arbitration against the DRC government.
In the energy sector, Suncor Energy lifted 24 cents to $32.94.
The main Toronto index was also lifted by market heavyweight Research In Motion Ltd. as the Waterloo-based BlackBerry maker won a reprieve from the Indian government.
India said Monday it won’t ban BlackBerry services for at least 60 days, during which authorities will examine RIM’s proposals to give security agencies greater access to corporate email and instant messaging. Shares in RIM rose eight cents to $48.43.
RIM stock has tumbled about 16% this month and analysts suggest the stock will have a hard time recovering even if the company can satisfy demands from countries such as India.
In the telecom sector, Rogers Communications down 25 cents at $37.46.
In other corporate news, the Globe and Mail reports that fertilizer company Agrium Inc. would be interested in buying some assets of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan should BHP Billiton Ltd. seek to sell some if the Australian miner is successful in its takeover bid. BHP Billiton has made a hostile $38.6-billion U.S. bid for PotashCorp
The Globe said BHP Billiton would consider selling off the nitrogen and phosphate businesses held by PotashCorp but that such a sale was not necessary to make the bid work. Potash shares improved 39 cents to $155.38 while Agrium shares were up 55 cents at $73.61.
George Weston Ltd. is buying frozen cupcake, doughnut and cookie maker Keystone Bakery, for $185 million U.S. Toronto-based Weston says the transaction will be made through its subsidiary, Maplehurst Bakeries, and its shares gained 68 cents to $83.46
The Canadian dollar settled back 0.66 cents to 94.37 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 14 TSX subgroups, losing groups nosed out winning ones eight to six on the day. Information technology slid 1.1%, global base metals 1%, while consumer discretionaries fell 0.6%.
The half-dozen gainers were led by metals and mining stocks, up 0.9%, health-care, picking up 0.7%, and financials, ahead 0.5%.
The TSX Venture Exchange moved upward 8.32 points to 1,497.17, while the Nasdaq Canada index slipped 6.49 points to 565.46.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, equities tumbled in a thinly traded session Monday as the tone turned bearish ahead of big economic reports due later this week.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 140.92 points, or 1.4%, to 10,009.73.
The S&P 500 index eased 15.67 points to 1,048.92. The tech-rich Nasdaq composite index stumbled 33.66 points to 2,119.97.
Stocks opened lower as investors responded to a mixed report on American consumers, a pair of billion-dollar corporate deals and a move by the Bank of Japan to shore up its economy. But the selling gained momentum near midday as the few traders who aren't on vacation this week turned cautious.
The economy will continue to be a big driver this week, with reports on consumer spending, home sales and manufacturing activity on tap. But mostly, investors are gearing up for the government's monthly jobs report, due before the opening bell Friday.
The retreat was broad based, with all but one Dow stock falling. Among the biggest losers on the blue chip measure were 3M, Caterpillar and American Express.
French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis agreed to buy biotech firm Genzyme in an $18.5-billion U.S. cash deal. Genzyme has reportedly been snubbing Sanofi's advances for the past month, prompting the French firm to send a so-called 'bearhug' letter, that is, one stop short of a hostile takeover.
Shares of Sanofi fell about 0.8% and Genzyme's stock rallied 3.8%
Giant chipmaker Intel's stock fell 1.6% after the company inked a deal to acquire the wireless unit of German chipmaker Infineon Technologies in an all-cash deal valued at $1.4 billion. Intel purchased security technology firm McAfee Inc. for $7.7 billion in cash on Aug. 19. On Friday, Intel warned its third-quarter sales would fall short of its previous forecast.
3M said it will acquire biometric security company Cogent Systems for $10.50 U.S. per share in a deal valued at $943 million U.S. Shares of 3M slipped 1.4%.
The bidding war for 3PAR continues. HP has currently topped Dell, with their bid of $2 billion U.S., or $30 U.S. per share, that was made on Friday.
On the economic front, a U.S. government report showed that personal income rose 0.2% in July, in line with expectations.
The report said consumer spending outpaced income growth, rising 0.4% in July. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting spending to rise 0.3% during the month, after a 0.1% rise the month before.
But personal savings, as a portion of disposable income, came in lower than the previous month.
Treasury prices vaulted, lowering yields for the benchmark 10-year note to 2.54% from Friday’s 2.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil moved down 89 cents to $74.28 U.S.
Gold prices advanced a dollar to $1,239 U.S. an ounce.
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