The Toronto stock market angled for a higher open on Monday as oil and gold prices advanced alongside several big deals in Canada’s mining sector.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index inched up but 3.84 to 12,606.02 soon after Monday’s opening bell
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.22 of a cent to 101.39 cents U.S.
Uranium One Inc. is supporting a $1.3-billion offer from a Russian company known as ARMZ, which wants to take the Canadian company private. ARMZ already owns 51.4% of Uranium One’s stock.
Natural-gas producer Encana said on Friday CEO Randy Eresman will retire immediately, with board member Clayton Woitas taking over his duties until a permanent replacement is found. Encana shares added eight cents to $19.58
Elsewhere, First Quantum Minerals announced its hostile $5.1-billion takeover bid for Inmet Mining Corp took a tense turn on Saturday, as the base metal miner delivered a letter to its rival suggesting Inmet may be trying to scuttle the bid, which is now in the hands of shareholders.
Separately, the mining firm plans to invest $275 million in a new nickel mine in Zambia, a company official said on Saturday. First Quantum shares slid 23 cents to $21.16, while Inmet shares lost $1.02 to $70.72
A human rights group will issue a report next week detailing workers' claims of abuse at the Bisha mine owned by Nevsun Resources Ltd. : in the East African country of Eritrea. Nevsun shares gained eight cents to $4.46 early Monday.
A consortium of Sun Life Financial Inc and Malaysian state investor Khazanah Nasional Bhd has agreed to buy British insurer Aviva plc's Malaysian insurance joint venture with CIMB Group for about 1.7-billion ringgit, sources said on Sunday, helping the company to expand its Asian foot print. Sun Life shares added six cents to $27.69
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 2.50 points to 1,242.75
Seven of the 14 Toronto subgroups were in the green soon after the bell, most notably information technology, leaping 2%, while real-estate and gold progressed only 0.2% each.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed mostly by metals and mining stocks, down 0.4%, while consumer staples and telecoms were each off 0.3%. Health-care issues were flat in the day’s first hour.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were little changed at Monday's open, as investors await the latest round of corporate earnings to begin in earnest.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 14.91 points to begin the week at 13,473.50
The S&P 500 slid 4.01 points to 1,468.04. The Nasdaq Composite moved down 15.31 points to 3,110.32
Tech shares were dragged lower by Apple, which briefly dipped below $500 U.S. following reports surfaced that the company cut orders for iPhone 5 components due to weak demand. The stock was the biggest loser in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.
Offsetting the weakness were shares of Hewlett-Packard, which rose on news that it had dethroned Lenovo as the top maker of personal computers.
Aside from the tech moves, Monday's trading is expected to be quiet as investors await bank earnings later in the week.
Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are due to report their results Wednesday, while Intel, Bank of America and General Electric are due later in the week.
United Parcel Service Inc announced it is scrapping plans for a $6.8-billion U.S. merger with TNT Express NV, a smaller Dutch delivery company. UPS blamed the European Commission for ruining the deal, saying the EC's antitrust regulator wouldn't allow it.
In other merger news, Swiss watch maker Swatch is buying Hollywood's go-to jeweler, Harry Winston. Shares of the exclusive jeweler's parent company, Harry Winston Diamond Corp. rose 10%, even though the deal won't include its gemstone mining operations.
S&P 500 companies are expected to report overall earnings growth of 2.4% for the last three months of 2012, according to market observers. That's better than the 1% decline in the third quarter. But excluding the financial sector, earnings growth for S&P 500 companies is expected to be just 0.2%.
At 4 p.m. ET, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is scheduled to give a speech and take public questions at the University of Michigan.
Prices on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note gained ground, lowering yields to 1.84% from Friday’s 1.88%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 18 cents to $93.74 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices picked up $12.20 an ounce to $1,662.80 U.S.
