The Toronto stock market shook off its lethargy and actually started to gain some momentum by noon Tuesday, even amid the continued closure of New York stock markets for a second day due to Hurricane Sandy.
The S&P/TSX composite approached noon up 57.14 points to 12,369.89
The Canadian dollar gained back some lost ground, taking on 0.21 cents to vault back above parity with its U.S. counterpart at 100.11 cents.
The base metals component was up slightly while metal prices advanced with December copper ahead two cents to $3.51 U.S. a pound. Among base metals stocks, Sherritt International added 11 cents, or 2.6%, to $4.43
The gold sector moved forward as Osisko took on 2% to $9.40.
Rail stocks put a brake on things, though, as Canadian National Railways were down 28 cents to $86.65.
Traders also took in earnings news from major players in the Canadian resource sector.
Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. posted net income of $338 million or 70 cents a share, beating estimates by 15 cents. The company, which owns a 37 per cent stake in the Syncrude Canada oilsands mine north of Fort McMurray, Alta., increased its 2012 cash flow guidance by 20%. Its shares gained 64 cents, or 3.1%, to $21.24.
Talisman Energy Inc. shares fell 49 cents, or 4.1%, to $11.56 as the international oil and gas producer reported a net loss of $731 million, largely as a result of asset writedowns in various parts of the world including its shale operations in Quebec and its offshore operations in Norway.
Talisman said it’s determined to return to profitability after the loss, which was worse than analyst estimates, and will reduce capital spending in 2013 to the lowest level in several years.
TransCanada Corp. says its third-quarter profit was $369 million or 52 cents per share, down from $386 million or 55 cents per share. Another measure of profitability, called comparable earnings, dropped more dramatically to $349 million or 50 cents per share from $416 million or 59 cents per share.
That missed analyst estimates by two cents per share, and the pipeline operator’s shares were four cents lower to $44.86
No macroeconomic data was in the pipeline in Canada for Tuesday.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eked up 2.20 points to 1,293.63
All but one of the 14 Toronto subgroups were positive as noon approached, led by health-care issues, up 0.8%, energy, ahead 0.7%, and materials, progressing 0.6%.
Only a 0.01% drop by global base metals kept things from being unanimous.
ON WALLSTREET
Markets were closed for a second straight day, as New York waits out the worst of Hurricane Sandy.
The New York Stock Exhange has also said it intends to resume trading Wednesday, through its Arca electronic trading system if floor trading is not possible.
Bond markets in the U.S. were also closed for a second session.
The CME Group also cancelled floor trading in New York Chicago but commodity trading carried on electronically.
NYSE rarely shuts down for weather-related emergencies: Hurricane Gloria in 1985, and a snowstorm in 1969 were the last major weather events to bring the exchange to a halt.
In fact, the last time the market was closed for two consecutive weather-related days was more than a century ago, when the New York Stock Exchange kept its doors shut as the city coped with a blizzard in 1888.
The last unscheduled marketwide shutdown was in September 2001, when markets were closed for four full trading days following the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. And in January 2007, the entire market shut down in accordance with the country's national day of morning in memory of President Gerald Ford, who had died a week earlier.
Oil prices advanced 51 cents to $86.05 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $3.60 per ounce to $1,712.30 U.S.
