The Toronto stock market were largely unchanged at the open, amid some disappointing earnings reports while traders hoped that Greece would meet the necessary conditions to secure its next bailout.
The S&P TSX Composite Index began Thursday off 1.11 points to 12,519.91.
The Canadian dollar regained 0.25 cents to 100.65 cents U.S.
The Canadian corporate earnings season moved into high gear with reports coming in from some of the biggest names in the financial, communications and resource sectors.
Telecommunications giant BCE Inc. said profits were up nearly 53% in the fourth quarter to $486 million or 62 cents a share. Adjusted earnings rose 5.1% to 62 cents a share, missing estimates by four cents.
Revenues increased 10.4% to $5.17 billion.
Mining company Teck Resources Ltd. reported fourth-quarter profit attributable to shareholders nearly doubled to $637 million, or $1.08 per share, a penny ahead of analyst expectations.
Quarterly revenues totaled $3 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $2.7 billion a year ago.
Manulife Financial Corp. reported a fourth-quarter loss of $69 million, compared to a year-ago profit of $1.79 billion, as it booked a charge of $665 million related to low interest rates.
Total revenue was $9.7 billion from $3.42 billion a year earlier.
In other earnings news, Air Canada reported a quarterly net loss of $60 million.
Oilfield services company Precision Drilling Corp. handed in quarterly net profits of $28 million or 10 cents a share.
On matters economic, Statistics Canada’s new housing price index inched higher by 0.1% in December, following a 0.3% increase in November.
The nation’s number crunchers reported building in Toronto, Oshawa, and Montréal were the top contributors to the increase in December. The positive impact of these metropolitan regions on the overall index was offset in part by decreases observed in Vancouver and in Hamilton.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange tacked on 5.30 points to 1,671.04, while the Nasdaq Canada index dipped 1.26 points to 423.08
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups began the day in the red. Telecoms slid 0.7%, health-care stocks suffered 0.6%, and industrials went down 0.4%.
The five gainers were led by gold, up 0.6%, while materials and consumer discretionaries each trucked ahead 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks started modestly higher Thursday as investors continued to focus on Greece.
The Dow Jones Industrials perked 18.17 points to begin the session at 12,902.10
The S&P 500 gained 1.43 points to 1,351.39, while the tech-rich Nasdaq took on 0.99 points to 2,916.85
Bank stocks were big winners Thursday. Late Wednesday, five of the nation's largest banks -- including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial -- agreed to a settlement deal with New York, California and just about all the other state aimed at helping homeowners struggling with loans bigger than the value of their homes, according to a source close to the talks.
Yahoo's stock rose following news reports that Chinese conglomerate Alibaba wants to buy back the 40% stake that Yahoo owns in the company. Shares of Hong Kong-listed Alibaba were suspended Thursday.
Shares of Diamond Foods plunged 40% after the snack foods company said it will restate two years worth of financial results, after an auditing probe discovered that the company had improperly accounted for payments made to walnut growers. Diamond Foods also put two top executives -- CEO Michael Mendes and CFO Steven Neil -- on administrative leave.
Oracle shares edged higher after the company said it is buying Taleo, which provides a cloud-based human resources management software, for $1.9 billion U.S.
Corporate earnings also remained in the spotlight Thursday morning.
PepsiCo's fourth-quarter profit and revenue rose, topping expectations, but shares fell as the company also announced 8,700 job cuts as part of a cost-cutting measure to increase investments in advertising and marketing.
Shares of daily deals site Groupon tumbled Thursday, a day after the firm posted a surprise loss for its first quarter as a public company.
Cisco's stock declined despite the company beating expectations with its fourth-quarter profit and revenue. The tech giant boosted its quarterly dividend by 30%
News that Greek political parties have finally reached an agreement on austerity measures and reforms sparked increasing optimism that the troubled nation will be able to secure more bailout funds and avoid a default.
Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelo will present the deal this afternoon at the meeting of finance ministers from the euro area.
The deal was a major step for Greece toward securing a second bailout of €130 billion from the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank. Greece needs the bailout money in order to make its payment on a €14.5-billion bond redemption next month.
The European Central Bank left its benchmark interest rate at 1%.
Meanwhile, the Bank of England also left rates unchanged, but said it would buy another £50 billion, about $79 billion U.S., of U.K government bonds to help stimulate the British economy.
On the economic front, initial unemployment claims fell by 15,000 to 358,000 during the latest week, a level near the four-year low hit in January. Economists expected 370,000 claims, compared to the previous week's 373,000.
Meanwhile, slightly more than 3.5 million Americans filed continuing claims, an increase by 64,000, in the week ended Jan. 28. Economists were expecting 3.47 million continuing claims.
Wholesale inventories, due later in the morning, are expected to have increased by 0.4% for the month of December, after ticking up by 0.1% in the month prior.
Treasury prices for the 10-year note fell, raising yields to 2.03% from Wednesday’s 1.98%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for February delivery advanced $1.18 to $99.89 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery added $19.40 to $1,750.60 U.S. an ounce.
