Oil and mining stocks fueled buying in Toronto Tuesday morning amid rising crude and copper prices and some strong earnings reports from the U.S.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 91 points to 13,345.14 while the TSX Venture Exchange edged 3.73 points lower to 2,000.77.
The Canadian dollar was up 1.05 cents to 105.34 cents US as the Bank of Canada announced it was leaving its key rate unchanged at 1%.
Oil prices rose above $97 a barrel Tuesday amid a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., that crude inventories likely fell by 1.3 million barrels last week while gasoline supplies probably dropped 450,000 barrels.
The August crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained $2.34 to US$98.27 a barrel and the energy sector rose 1.62%. Suncor Energy (TSX:SU) gained 72 cents to $38.27 while Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ) climbed 89 cents to $40.38.
The base metals sector gained 2.25 per cent as metal prices also ran ahead with the September copper contract up 9 cents to US$4.49 a pound. Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B) was up $1.05 to $50.08 while Lundin Mining (TSX:LUN) rose 21 cents to $7.03.
The tech sector was showing strenght in the wake of a strong earnings report from IBM. Celestica (TSX:CLS) gained 11 cents to $7.81 and CGI Group (TSX:GIB.A) advanced 37 cents to $22.61.
Financials were also supportive as Royal Bank (TSX:RY) gained 47 cents to $52.92 and Scotiabank (TSX:BNS) was up 35 cents to $56.35.
The gold sector was the weakest group as bullion prices moved down slightly from Monday's latest record close, down 90 cents to US$1,601.50 an ounce. Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) faded 51 cents to $46.52 while Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) fell 97 cents to $51.82.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rallied Tuesday as housing-market data and results from corporations including International Business Machines Corp. exceeded Wall Street’s expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 124 points, or 1%, at 12,509. The S&P 500 was higher by 14 points, or 1%, at 1319, and the Nasdaq was ahead by 47 points, or 1.7%, at 2812.
Shares of IBM(IBM) were trading 3.6% higher to $181.67 after the Dow component credited strong sales growth across its hardware, software and services businesses for the better-than-expected quarterly earnings that it reported late Monday. IBM also lifted its full-year profit outlook to adjusted earnings of at least $13.25 a share, up from its prior guidance for earnings of $13.15 a share.
In other earnings news, Goldman Sachs(GS), missed estimates for second-quarter earnings of $2.27 a share with a profit of $1.85 a share. Revenue also came in below expectations, at $7.28 billion, compared with the revenue of $8.14 billion that had been expected. Shares were losing 1.3% to $127.60.
The August crude oil contract was gaining $2.08 to trade at $98.33 a barrel. Gold for August delivery was down by $1.80 at $1,600.60 an ounce.
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