Toronto's main stock index edged higher after a soft start on Tuesday morning as commodity issues resumed their recent march higher, taking an interest rate hike in China in stride.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index had gained 52.18 points at the final bell to 14,270.53
The Canadian dollar added 0.35 cents at 103.8 cents U.S.
Top gainers included oil producer Canadian Natural Resources up 44 cents to $47.91, and Goldcorp up $2.66 or 5.6% at $50.20. Diversified miner Teck Resources gained $1.18, or 2.1%, to $56.28.
Yamana Gold Inc. climbed 55 cents, or 4.6% to $12.49, and Eldorado Gold Corp. was up 82 cents, or 5.3% to $16.31
Financials let go of some of their strength. Shares of Manulife Financial Corp. lost 2.2% to $17.01 and the Royal Bank of Canada fell 30 cents 0.5% to $60.30.
The main index has risen more than 2% over the last five sessions, which could set the stage for a pullback.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 30.62 points to 2,354.34, while the Nasdaq Canada index gained back 0.52 points to 760.78
In Toronto, eight of the 14 subgroups were positive on the day. Gold triumphed 4.6%, materials picked up 2.9% and metals and mining were 1.5% better.
Of the six laggards, information technology, slipped 1.3%, and industrials issues slid 0.7%, while financials settled 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks slipped late Tuesday, as investors weighed strength in the semiconductor sector against speculation that rising inflation will force the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates later this year.
The Dow Jones industrial average ducked lower 6.13 points at the close to 12,393.90
The S & P 500 was worse off 0.24 points to 1,332.63. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index progressed but two points, to 2,791.18
Stocks were supported by gains in semiconductor companies after Texas Instruments announced a $6.5-billion U.S. bid for rival National Semiconductor. Shares of National Semiconductor surged 72%.
The news lifted shares of other chipmakers, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor index, or SOX, up 2.5%.
Strength in technology shares helped offset a surprise interest rate hike by The People's Bank of China and another downgrade of Portugal's sovereign debt.
But the market came off its highs after meeting minutes from the Federal Reserve raised speculation that the U.S. central bank could raise rates later this year amid rising inflation.
Nasdaq OMX Group announced Tuesday it will rebalance its tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 index, reducing Apple's weight by almost 40% -- to 12.3% from 20.5%. The change takes effect on May 2.
The Nasdaq-100 includes the 100 largest nonfinancial companies listed on the Nasdaq exchange -- not to be confused with the Nasdaq Composite, which includes all of the roughly 3,000 companies listed on the exchange.
The change will lend more weight to Google, Intel, Microsoft and Oracle. Apple shares were down about 0.8%
KB Home shares fell nearly 5%, after the homebuilder announced a quarterly loss of $114.5 million U.S. or $1.49 a share. That's far deeper than the loss analysts were expecting.
Shares of Expedia rose nearly 2%, after American Airlines announced the two companies will resume doing business together after reaching an agreement on airfare sales.
Diamond Foods, Inc and Procter & Gamble Company announced plans to merge P&G's Pringles chips business under Diamond Foods. Shares of Diamond Foods surged 7%, after the $2.35-billion U.S. deal was announced.
The People's Bank of China also surprised investors Tuesday by announcing a quarter-percentage-point hike in interest rates, as part of its continued efforts to gradually slow down the country's rapidly rising prices.
China's benchmark one-year lending rate now stands at 6.31%.
On the economic front, the Institute for Supply Management’s index of non- manufacturing businesses decreased to 57.3 from 59.7 in February. Economists forecast the gauge would fall to 59.5, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. A reading above 50 signals growth for about 90% of the economy.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped sharply pulling yields back up to 3.49% from Monday’s 3.43%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for February delivery fell off 61 cents to $107.86 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for June delivery surged $21.60 to another record high of $1,450.01 U.S. an ounce in non-inflation adjusted terms.
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