The Toronto stock market was flat by midday Monday, after the Greek parliament passed a package of harsh austerity measures in order to secure a second bailout that will hopefully save the country from bankruptcy.
The S&P TSX Composite Index approached noon ET Monday up but 1.17 points to 12,390.59, as gold stocks moved into the red and other sectors backed off amid doubts as to when Greece would actually get the money.
The Canadian dollar headed higher as Sunday's vote encouraged investors to take on added risk, rising 0.15 of a cent to 100.04 cents U.S.
The energy sector improved while Talisman Energy rose 19 cents to $12.50 and Canadian Oil Sands was ahead 61 cents to $22.61.
March copper was down two cents to $3.84 U.S. a pound, but the base metals sector was still ahead. HudBay Minerals was ahead 13 cents to $11.99 and First Quantum Mineral improved by 56 cents to $21.84.
The industrials sector was ahead Bombardier Aerospace has received an order for five Q400 NextGen aircraft from an unnamed carrier valued at $160 million U.S. Bombardier shares rose seven cents to $4.86.
Financials were also supportive, particularly in the insurance component. Manulife Financial rose 16 cents to $11.91 and Sun Life Financial climbed 24 cents to $21.09.
The gold sector was the weakest component as April bullion gave up early gains and Kinross Gold Corp. declined 15 cents to $10.64.
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. Its shares were up two cents to $1.50.
Elsewhere 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.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 1.28 points by the middle of the session to 1,654.83, while the Nasdaq Canada index picked up 1.71 points to 417.76
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups remained in the green by noon. Information technology issues surged 1.2%, industrials were ahead 0.5%, and global base metals gained 0.4%.
The five laggards were weighed mostly by gold, sliding 0.7%, while materials faded 0.5%, and utilities were off 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks rose Monday after the Greek Parliament approved a key austerity package, raising hopes the nation will avoid a messy default.
The Dow Jones Industrials climbed 60.74 points to break for lunch at 12,862.
The S&P 500 advanced 7.08 points to 1,349.72, while the tech-rich Nasdaq added 21.28 points to 2,925.16
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 briefly 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 unveiled a $3.8-trillion U.S. budget request Monday that hikes taxes on the rich, spends new money on infrastructure and education, but does little to reform the entitlement programs that pose the biggest long-term threat to the federal budget.
The budget forecasts a deficit for fiscal year 2012 that will top $1.3 trillion U.S., before falling in 2013 to $901 billion U.S., or 5.5% of gross domestic product.
The 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.
Treasury prices for the 10-year note were off a bit, raising yields to 1.98% from Friday’s 1.97%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for February delivery gained $1.42 to $100.09 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery gained $3.70 to $1,729 U.S. an ounce.
