The Toronto stock market found its way out of the red and into positive territory before Monday’s close, though worries about economic conditions weighed on buyers, offsetting positive earnings from the American financial sector and economic data from China and the U.S. that beat expectations.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed Monday up 27.92 points to 12,229.96
Earlier, the index touched a session low of 12,137.18, its weakest level since September 6.
The Canadian dollar fell 0.01 cents to 102.07 cents U.S.
The gold sector declined, as Barrick Gold Corp. faded 32 cents to $37.99.
Argonaut Gold Inc. shares fell 83 cents, or 7.9%, to $9.65 as the company announced plans to acquire Prodigy Gold Inc. for shares and cash in a friendly deal valued at $341 million. Current Argonaut shareholders would own about 78 per cent of the company after the transaction and Prodigy shareholders 22 per cent. Prodigy shares surged 29 cents, or 42%, to 98 cents.
In the energy sector, Canadian Natural Resources lost 15 cents to $30.10.
Copper prices failed to find lift from the Chinese data with the December contact off three cents at $3.67 U.S. a pound and the base metals sector fell back as Capstone Mining dipped three cents to $2.34.
The company formerly known as Ivanhoe Mines says it has rejected the Mongolian government’s request to renegotiate an investment agreement for the Oyu Tolgoi mine, one of the world’s biggest new copper developments.
Turquoise Hill Resources said that Mongolia’s mine minister had written to request a renegotiation of a deal signed in October 2009 but the company says the deal is a binding agreement. Its shares declined 44 cents, or 5.1%, to $8.12.
On the economic beat, the average price of a Canadian home inched 1.1% higher to $355,777 in September, even as the number of homes sold fell sharply
The Canadian Real Estate Association's monthly sales data released Monday also show the volume of home sales across the country was 15.1% lower in September 2012 compared to the same month a year earlier.
CREA also said more than half of all local markets posted declines of at least 10%
Internationally, a 100-billion-euro aid request from Spain to its euro-zone partners would shave 1.5% off Italy's economic output, the finance minister in Rome was quoted as saying.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eased 10.08 points to 1,282.73
In all, nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups moved into positive territory, led by industrials, ahead 0.6%, while consumer discretionary and financial stocks each gained 0.5%.
The five laggards were weighed mostly by gold and health-care issues, each off 0.4%, while materials surrendered 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks moved higher Monday as investors welcomed a sharp rise in retail sales and better-than-expected quarterly earnings from Citigroup.
The Dow Jones Industrial average leaped 95.38 points to close at 13,424.20
The S&P 500 prospered 11.54 points to 1,440.13, while the tech-rich Nasdaq recovered 20.07 points to 3,064.18
Bank stocks were among the best performers after Citigroup reported third-quarter earnings that topped analysts' forecasts. Shares of Citi rose about 4%. Bank of America and JPMorgan were also higher.
Among the blue chips reporting results this week are Intel, Bank of America, IBM and Johnson & Johnson
Eli Lilly shares rose after the pharmaceutical company said a study of its gastric cancer drug showed positive results.
Shares of rival drug maker Abbott rose after it announced upbeat results for an initial study of its treatment of hepatitis C.
Texas Instruments shares gained on speculation that Amazon is in talks to buy TI’s smartphone microchip business.
Shares of toy maker Hasbro fell more than 2% after analysts at Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to sell. Goldman cited a sharp decline in the amount of money consumers spend on toys and games. Shares of rival toy company Mattel
Media conglomerate Gannett and brokerage Charles Schwab both reported earnings that beat forecasts.
Economically speaking, retail sales jumped 1.1% in September, boosted by higher gas prices and electronic sales, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That's higher than the 0.7% rise expected by analysts.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's monthly Empire State Manufacturing Index remained in negative territory in October, but improved to a reading of -6.2 compared to a reading of -10.4 in September.
Overseas, a report Monday showed that inflation in China slowed in September. Chinese consumers paid 1.9% more for goods in September than they did a year earlier, the government's National Bureau of Statistics reported. That's down from a 2% increase in August.
The price of the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury was unchanged on the day, keeping the yield at Friday’s 1.66%.
Oil prices slipped 22 cents to $91.64 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $21.10 to $1,738.60 U.S. an ounce.
