The Toronto stock market was lower Friday afternoon as geopolitical concerns boosted oil prices and mining stocks continued to decline amid a sharp drop in the price of copper this week.
The S&P/TSX composite index greeted Friday’s closing bell down 13.04 points, to 14,123.11
The Canadian dollar sifted off 0.15 cents to 101.4 cents U.S.
The Toronto stock market will be closed for Ontario’s Family Day while New York markets will be closed Monday for the Presidents Day holiday.
The base metals sector was down as the March copper contract on the Nymex added to a series of declines since hitting a record closing high of $4.63 U.S. a pound on Monday. Copper lost a penny on Friday to $4.47 U.S. a pound.
Higher demand from emerging economies, such as China, and supply worries have pushed copper prices up more than 60% from the lows of mid-summer 2010.
On the TSX, Teck Resources declined $1.54 to $54.33 and Equinox Minerals dropped 17 cents to $6.32.
Benchmark crude prices in the United States have risen in the last two days on signs of lower U.S. inventories and violent protests in the Middle East which have kept investors on edge about possible crude supply disruptions.
There have been anti-government protests in Iran, Algeria, Jordan and Libya following the ouster of regimes in Tunisia and Egypt. Iran is the world’s fourth-largest oil producer. Algeria and Libya are also important crude suppliers.
Canadian Natural Resources rose two cents to $47.25 while Talisman Energy gained 63 cents to $24.24.
Meanwhile, oil producer Cenovus Energy Inc. reported its fourth-quarter earnings and revenues improved, despite a $197-million hedging loss.
Earnings grew to $73 million, or 10 cents per share, from $42 million, or six cents, a year ago.
Revenues were $3.17 billion in the three months ended Dec. 31, up from $3 billion in the year-earlier. Its shares dropped eight cents to $36.51.
The gold sector grew with Barrick Gold Corp. rising 91 cents to $50.82 and Goldcorp Inc. improved by 37 cents to $44.47.
Eldorado Gold Corp. reported fourth-quarter net income of $43.6 million U.S., or eight cents per share, up 31% from $33.3 million U.S., or eight cents a share in the year-earlier. Revenues from gold sales grew to $204.6 million U.S., from $144.5 million U.S.
Analysts had been expecting income of 11 cents per share on $205 million in sales and its shares climbed 25 cents to $17.18.
Despite the tepid showing Friday, the TSX was up about 2.5% this week as energy stocks ran up alongside oil prices and financial stocks posted strong gains ahead of the start of a raft of earnings reports from the big banks starting next week.
In other earnings news, Brookfield Asset Management reported that its net income rose to $2.07 billion U.S. in its most recent quarter, as it posted a big gain related to fair value changes.
That amounted to $1.80 per share, up from $709 million or 35 cents per share in the prior-year period.
Revenue at the Toronto-based asset manager — which reports in U.S. dollars — was $3.96 billion, up from $3.79 billion. Its shares gained 16 cents to $32.09.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported this morning that the annual inflation rate was 2.3% in January, a drop of one-10th of a point from December.
The nation’s number crunchers said that energy costs were the major force driving inflation, though the impact on consumers was less severe in January than it was the previous month.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange was up 1.79 points to 2,423.68, while the Nasdaq Canada index picked up 4.30 points to 842.63.
In Toronto, seven of the 14 subgroups were lower by the close. Global base metals slid 2.1%, while metals and mining subtracted 2%, and health-care stocks fell 1%.
Gold led the half-dozen gainers, improving 0.5%, real-estate and utilities surged 0.4% each. Information technology stocks were flat.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks posted modest gains Friday as the two-day meeting of the G-20 finance ministers kicks off in France.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 73.11 points to end the week at 12,391.20.
The S&P 500 was positive by 2.58 points to 1,343.01. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 2.37 points to 2,833.95.
Leading the Dow higher, shares of Travelers were up 1.6% while shares of Pfizer fell 1%. Among the S&P 500, Intuit, maker of TurboTax, saw its shares rise 8% after issuing earnings guidance above analysts' estimates.
While investors said they do not expect any earth-shattering news out of this weekend’s G-20 meeting, they are hoping for some clarity from emerging market economies on the issue of inflation.
Ahead of the G-20 meeting, China's central bank said it will raise the reserve requirement ratio for the nation's banks by half a percentage point, marking the second increase so far this year.
The government has hiked the reserve requirement six times in 2010, as the country attempts to combat inflation.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke on a panel of central bankers, including the heads of the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the People's Bank of China.
Bernanke said unbalanced flows of money between nations is again posing a risk to the global economy and financial stability, adding that the uneven flow of funds into the United States from 2003 to 2007 were one of the key factors that led to the meltdown in financial markets in 2008.
Later in the day, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will speak.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury lost ground, raising the yield to 3.59% from Thursday’s 3.57%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions,
Oil for February delivery dipped 53 cents to $85.53 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery rose $3.50 to $1,388.60 U.S. an ounce.
Related Stories
