The Toronto stock market racked up a solid gain Tuesday, led by advances in energy stocks amid rising oil prices and a positive earnings report from Canadian Oil Sands.
The S&P/TSX composite finished Tuesday up 64.30 points to 12,377.05
The Canadian dollar gained back some lost ground, taking on 0.17 cents to vault back above parity with its U.S. counterpart at 100.07 cents.
But volumes were lower than average in a relatively subdued session due to the closure of New York financial markets for a second day because of Hurricane Sandy.
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% 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.
Financials also provided lift as Royal Bank climbed 31 cents to $56.66.
The base metals component was up while metal prices advanced with December copper ahead one cent to $3.51 U.S. a pound. Sherritt International was up 11 cents to $4.43.
The gold sector was also ahead as Goldcorp Inc. ran ahead 90 cents, or more than 2%, to $45.55
In other earnings news, Talisman Energy Inc. shares fell 58 cents, or 4.8%, to $11.47 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. said its third-quarter profit was $369 million or 52 cents per share, down from $386 million or 55 cents per share in the same year-earlier period. 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 28 cents lower at $44.62
No macroeconomic data was handed down in Canada for Tuesday.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange advanced 11.49 points to 1,302.92
All but one of 14 Toronto subgroups were in the green by the closing bell. Materials gained 1%, information technology picked up 0.9%, and consumer discretionary stocks advanced 0.8%.
Utilities were flat by the finish.
ON WALLSTREET
Markets were closed for a second straight day, as New York waits out the worst of Hurricane Sandy.
The New York Stock Exchange 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 eight cents to $85.62 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $1.50 per ounce to $1,710.20 U.S.
