The Toronto stock market was set for a higher open Monday, reflecting relief that the Greek parliament passed a package of harsh austerity measures that will hopefully be a step towards saving the country from bankruptcy.
The S&P TSX Composite Index opened Monday up 27.60 points to 12,417.02
The Canadian dollar headed higher as Sunday's vote encouraged investors to take on added risk, rising 0.16 of a cent to 100.05 cents US.
On the corporate front, London-based Vodafone Group PLC, the world’s largest mobile phone company, said Monday it is considering a possible bid for Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC.
Vodafone said it was "in the very early stages of evaluating the merits of a potential offer for CWW."
The Sunday Times suggested that Vodafone might offer 700 million pounds for Cable & Wireless, which had a market value of nearly 550 million pounds based on Friday’s closing price.
Bombardier Aerospace has received an order for five Q400 NextGen aircraft from an unnamed carrier valued at $160 million U.S.
Avion Gold Corp. has started production at its new underground mine at the Tabakoto gold deposit in Mali, West Africa, with average production anticipated to be about 470,000 tonnes of ore for the year.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 3.79 points at the outset to 1,657.34, while the Nasdaq Canada index picked up 0.82 points to 416.87
All but two of the 14 Toronto subgroups were in the green to start the day and week. Information technology issues surged 1%, global base metals gained 0.9%, while metals and mining picked up 0.7%.
Only gold, off 0.2%, and utilities, skidding 0.04%, missed the party.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks were higher early Monday after the Greek Parliament approved a key austerity package, raising hopes the nation will avoid a messy default.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 38.67 points to open at 12,839.90.
The S&P 500 advanced 7.81 points to 1,350.45, while the tech-rich Nasdaq added 15.99 points to 2,919.87
U.S. financial stocks posted early gains in the wake of Greece's debt deal. Shares of Citigroup, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley were up more than 1%.
Shares of Apple rose to an all-time high above $500 U.S. in early trading.
Separately, the computer and cellphone maker sued Motorola Mobility to try and prevent Motorola from blocking sales of iPhones in Germany, with Apple arguing that its iPhone 4S is protected by a license agreement with Qualcomm.
Meanwhile, regulators are soon expected to clear Google's $12.5-billion U.S. acquisition of Motorola.
Chesapeake Energy outlined its 2012 financial plan Monday, saying that it expects to receive $2 billion U.S. from two separate transactions in the next 60 days and plans to issue $1 billion U.S. in senior notes in a public offering.
The Greek Parliament voted early Monday to approve a package of austerity reforms, marking a key step toward securing a second bailout worth €130 billion from the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank.
Greece needs the money to avoid a potential default on a €14.5-billion bond redemption in March. Sunday's vote clears one of the hurdles the Greek government must overcome to qualify for the bailout.
The vote came amid escalating public protests against the reforms, which include job and salary cuts for government workers, pension reforms and other measures to reduce government spending.
On the economic calendar, President Obama will release his budget plan Monday at 11 a.m. ET. The document's release comes after heated debate over the past year about how the U.S. should balance aiding the economic recovery with its deficit-reduction needs.
Senior administration officials said Friday that the plan forecasts a $901-billion U.S. deficit in 2013, and includes plans to make targeted investments in areas like infrastructure while hiking taxes on the rich.
Treasury prices for the 10-year note were static, keeping yields at Friday’s 1.97%.
Oil for February delivery gained $1.33 to $100.00 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery gained $1.70 to $1,727 U.S. an ounce.
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