The Toronto stock market regained some of its strength Tuesday, finding some stability following a mauling on Monday.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index regained 57.66 points on the day to 9,891.84. The TSX had plunged 454 points, or 4.4% Monday, in the wake of the World Bank report that warned the world economy will shrink 2.9% in 2009 compared with a previous forecast for a 1.7% decline.
Since hitting a high on June 11th, the TSX has lost about 9%.
Today, the TSX energy sector clawed back a chunk of Monday's slide of over 6%, rising as Suncor Inc. gained $1.03 cents to $33.22.
Manulife Financial Corp. was again a weight on the TSX. Its shares were down 40 cents to $20.02 following a 12% tumble Monday after revealing at the end of last week that the Ontario Securities Commission is investigating the insurer over what it told investors about the risks of its guaranteed fund business.
Overall, the financial sector was down, with Royal Bank off $1.39 to $43.71.
Elsewhere on the Toronto market, the base metals sector was slightly lower after sliding about 9% Monday. Copper prices rose six cents to $2.19 U.S. a pound, recovering more than half their steep slide Monday. Teck Resources rose 99 cents to $17.75 but Sherritt International lost 29 cents to $5.00.
The gold index was among the biggest percentage gainers on the TSX, as Barrick Gold Corp. gained $1.54 to $38.22.
Thomson Reuters wants to drop its listings on the London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq and move from a dual-listed company structure, saying its shareholder base has "changed considerably."
The financial news and professional information firm, created by Thomson Corp.'s purchase of Reuters last year, said Monday it wants to trade only on the Toronto and New York exchanges. On the TSX, its shares were off 45 cents to $33.08.
Timminco Ltd. said Monday that it will resume production of silicon metal at its Becancour Silicon facilities due to improved market conditions and demand. The company said it will restart one of its three electric arc furnaces to fulfil newly contracted demand from a long-term customer and recall some of the workers who were temporarily laid off in May. Its shares climbed 31 cents or 26% to $1.50.
Imperial Oil Ltd. has received permission to repurchase up to 5% of its publicly traded stock over the next year. At current prices, that would cost the Calgary-based integrated oil company about $1.8 billion. Its shares rose 39 cents to $43.55.
The Canadian dollar picked up 0.28 cents to 87.01 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 13 TSX subgroups, gainers edged losers seven to six. Materials and gold vied for the number-one position, gaining 3.9% each, while energy stocks charged up 1.2%.
Financials lost the most, at 1.8%, while health-care stocks suffered 1.5%, consumer staples and discretionaries were each 1.2% to the bad.
The TSX Venture Exchange stepped back 4.48 points to 1,074.18 while the Nasdaq Canada Index strengthened 9.85 points to 674.59
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, U.S. stocks fluctuated as Boeing Co. led a drop in industrial companies after delaying its 787 Dreamliner and technology shares slipped following a reduced revenue forecast at Rambus Inc., offsetting gains in banks.
The Dow Jones Industrials average stumbled 16.10 points, to finish at 8,322.91. The S&P 500 index inched ahead 2.06 points to 895.10. The Nasdaq had given back 1.27 points to 1,764.92
Boeing plunged as much as 9.3%, the most since 2001 on a closing basis, after the world’s second-largest commercial jet maker postponed its fuel-saving plane for a fifth time. Rambus, a designer of computer-memory chips, slid 16%. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. advanced 2.5% after FBR Capital Markets Corp. boosted its share-price estimate.
US Airways Group Inc. and United Airlines parent UAL Corp. led U.S. carriers to a three-month low as crude oil rose and UBS AG said travel demand remains "putrid."
US Airways dropped 11%. UAL tumbled 10%.
Meanwhile, Oracle Corp. said Tuesday its fiscal fourth-quarter profit dipped 7%, as the company suffered from declining sales of new business software licenses in what is typically its strongest period of the year.
The results, however, came in slightly ahead of Wall Street's estimates. Oracle shares were up 2.5% in after-hours trading Tuesday.
Oracle said net income for the period ended in May fell to $1.9 billion U.S., or 38 cents a share, from $2 billion U.S., or 39 cents a share in the same period a year earlier. Revenue fell 5% to $6.9 billion U.S., Oracle said. Excluding special items, earnings were 46 cents a share.
Meritage Homes Corp. jumped 3.4%, while Lennar Corp., the third-largest U.S. homebuilder by revenue, rose 2.7%.
Bank of America Corp., the lender that took $45 billion in U.S. aid, increased 2.1% after setting a price of $12.7048 for the swap designed to boost capital by more than $2.5 billion.
Motorola Inc. rose 4.1%. The biggest U.S. mobile-phone maker was raised to "buy" from "neutral" at Bank of America, which said "new product news flow could drive" the share price.
Treasuries gained for a third day as the government sold $40 billion of two-year bonds at a yield of 1.151%, lower than forecast.
Existing home sales rose 2.4% to a 4.77-million unit annualized rate in May from a 4.66-million unit annualized rate in April. That was short of forecasts for a rise to 4.82 million units, according to economists surveyed by Briefing.com. The median home price fell 16.8% year over year.
The Federal Reserve began its two-day policy meeting Tuesday with an announcement expected Wednesday afternoon. The central bank is expected to hold interest rates steady at historic lows near zero. However, what the bankers say about the economy, the bond market and the outlook for inflation will be critical.
Ratings agency Moody's said that the U.S. government's credit rating was still triple-A, but that it could be at risk if Washington can't start bringing its debt down.
Treasury prices gained, moving the yield down to 3.64%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices eased back $2.62 per barrel to $67.06 U.S.
Gold was three dollars higher per ounce, to $924.00 U.S.
