The Toronto stock market closed little changed today as investors stepped back at the end of a fourth consecutive positive week while New York indexes closed higher amid data detailing another month of huge job losses in the United States.
Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index moved 7.38 points lower to 9,065.76, closing above the 9,000-mark for the first time since February 9 and leaving the main index modestly positive for the year to date.
The rally which began on March 10 has lifted the TSX 20% since hitting multi-year lows on March 9.
Buoying markets this week was a pledge by the world's major powers of more than $1 trillion U.S. to help combat the global economic crisis and a change to U.S. accounting rules that had forced banks to value their assets at current prices.
Losses were led by base metals and particularly gold stocks and would have been higher had it not been for a solid earnings report that drove up the value of Research In Motion Ltd.
RIM shares soared $11.81 or 19.35% to $72.80 after the BlackBerry maker beat analyst expectations by a wide margin and posted a $518.3 million U.S. in profit for its fourth quarter.
The company's outlook was also stronger than expected while co-CEO Jim Balsillie said that about 70% of net new subscriber accounts came from consumers, who now represent about half of the total BlackBerry subscriber account base.
The TSX energy sector was flat as crude oil steadied after running ahead more than $4 on Thursday. Canadian Oil Sands Trust gained 47 cents to $26.82.
The financial sector shook off early losses to rise as Royal Bank gained 50 cents to $38.47 and CIBC climbed $1.37 to $48.87.
The gold sector was down, as Barrick Gold Corp. faded $2.71 to $37.31.
The telecom sector was also weak, as Telus Corp. declined 74 cents to $35.19.
Consumer staples stocks were also weak, with Shoppers Drug Mart down 73 cents to $42.98 and grocer Loblaw Cos. Ltd. shed 80 cents to $30.90.
Lundin Mining Corp. shares gave back six cents to $2.11 after the Vancouver-based international miner said it is issuing at least 80 million new common shares in a bought deal worth $164 million.
The Canadian dollar was up 0.48 cents to 81.25 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 13 TSX subgroups, seven were negative, weighed lower by gold, which shed 7.3%, materials, off 4.1% and consumer staples, down 2.1%
The six gainers were led upwards by information technology, ahead 6.9%, followed by metals and mining, advancing 3.2% and real-estate, improving 2.3%.
The TSX Venture Exchange skidded 2.68 points to close the week at 975.59 while the Nasdaq Canada Index sprinted ahead 76.98 points to greet Friday’s closing bell at 574.11
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrials average eked out a slight gain of 39.51 points to end a somewhat choppy Friday at 8,017.59
The S&P 500 index moved ahead 8.12 points to 842,50, while the Nasdaq put on 19.24 points to 1,621.87.
For the four-week period ended Friday, the Dow has gained almost 21%, according to early tallies, making it the blue-chip indicator's best four-week run since May 1933, when it gained 31%.
Elsewhere in the tech sector, IBM and Sun Microsystems are in the late stages of a deal for IBM to buy Sun for $9.55 U.S. a share, according to published reports. That's about $1 less than the figure previously floating around. IBM shares gained 1% and Sun shares rose 3.4%.
Economically speaking, the U.S. Labor Department reported that the economy shed 663,000 jobs last month while the unemployment rate ran up to 8.5% from 8.1%, the highest since late 1983.
But there was some relief that the number at least met expectations after payroll processor ADP estimated U.S. private-sector employment losses of 742,000.
In other economic news, the Institute for Supply Management released its services sector index for March. The index fell to 40.8 from 41.6 in the previous month. Economists thought it would rise to 42.
Treasury prices tumbled, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 2.89% from 2.77% Thursday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The May crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange slipped 13 cents to $52.51 U.S. a barrel,
The June bullion contract on the Nymex moved down $11.60 to $897.30 U.S. an ounce
