Markets in Toronto rose on Wednesday, led by energy stocks on optimism about Chinese economic growth and by a rally in Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd on its plan to cut jobs in a bid to lower costs and increase efficiency.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 20.11 points – off its highs of the day -- to end Wednesday 12,157.29
The Canadian dollar was up 0.13 cents to 100.84 cents U.S.
Energy shares rose as Suncor Energy Inc was up 1.3% at $32.68, and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd advanced 1.3% to $27.78.
Canadian Pacific Railway gained 4.1% to $96.82 after the country's second-biggest railroad said it plans to cut 4,500 jobs by 2016 as part of a drive by its new CEO to slash costs. The company played one of the biggest roles in leading the market higher.
Also boosting the market was Primaris Retail REIT, whose shares rose 14.6% to $26.40 after a consortium led by Canada's KingSett Capital offered about $2.6 billion to acquire the Canadian shopping mall owner.
However, the market was held back by falling gold mining stocks, which were hurt by lower gold prices.
Goldcorp Inc shed 3.3% to $36.61, Barrick Gold Corp fell 2.4% to $33.12, and Eldorado Gold was down 4.5% at $13.26. As a result, the materials sector, which includes mining stocks, fell.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eased 8.32 points to 1,184.54.
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher on the day, led by metals and mining, ahead 1.8%, real-estate, up 1.6%, and industrials, gaining 1%.
The three laggards were gold, off 2.7%, materials 1.4% to the bad, and health-care stocks moving lower by 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock indexes moved higher Wednesday, with the exception of the Nasdaq, as investors welcomed upbeat corporate news and comments from President Obama on the fiscal cliff.
The Dow Jones Industrials prospered 82.71 points to close at 13,034.50
The S&P 500 ended higher by 2.23 points to 1,409.28, however, the Nasdaq Composite Index plummeted 22.99 points to 2,973.70, weighed by the misfortunes of heavyweight Apple.
Apple shares fell 6% after research firm IDC raised its outlook for sales of tablet computers, pointing to strong demand for iPad rivals made by Google, Amazon, Samsung and others.
There were also reports that clearing firms were raising margin requirements on the stock, which would make it more difficult for investors to keep buying shares. Apple's stock is once again in a bear market, down more than 20% from its all-time high.
Bank stocks gained after Citigroup announced plans to cut 11,000 jobs and take a $1-billion U.S. charge in the fourth quarter as part of a "repositioning" effort under newly appointed CEO Michael Corbat. Shares of Citi rose 7%. Bank of America, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley were also higher.
Travelers rose 5% after the insurance company estimated that net losses due to Hurricane Sandy would total about $650 million U.S.
Stocks have drifted in a range this week as the fight over tax hikes and spending cuts in Washington shows no sign of progress.
President Obama has backed a plan that allows tax rates to increase on the wealthy, while Republicans are more focused on cuts in public spending and eliminating deductions.
In other corporate news, mining company Freeport-McMoRan announced plans to buy Plains Exploration & Production Company and McMoRan Exploration in transactions totaling $20 billion U.S. The move, which creates a huge new player in the natural gas market, sent shares of Freeport-McMoRan down 14%.
Nasdaq announced late Tuesday that Facebook will be joining its marquee Nasdaq-100 index next week.
Pandora shares plunged more than 18% after the Internet radio service issued a disappointing outlook for sales and earnings late Tuesday.
Shares of Nokia rose following an announcement that it has partnered with China Mobile to launch a new version of its Lumia smartphone for the Chinese market.
Payroll processor ADP reported that U.S. private-sector employers added 118,000 jobs in November. That was slightly worse than expected, and smaller than the gain of 157,000 jobs in the previous month.
Investors will be keeping close tabs on the labour market ahead of the government's monthly jobs report due Friday.
New orders for manufactured goods unexpectedly rose 0.8% in October, according to government data. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected a decline of 0.1%.
Treasury prices picked up ground, lowering yields on the 10-year note to 1.59% from Tuesday’s 1.61%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gave back 65 cents to $87.85 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices settled back $1.70 an ounce to $1,694.10 U.S.
