The Toronto stock market finished Monday a shade above the breakeven point as oil and gold prices were mixed amid several big deals in Canada’s mining sector.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index poked ahead 0.91 points to conclude Monday at 12,603.09
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.04 of a cent to 101.65 cents U.S., as a new survey by the Bank of Canada showed that Canadian business executives are feeling more confident about 2013.
The central bank's latest quarterly business outlook survey shows firms on balance think sales and employment will pick up after a tough 2012.
The TSX information technology sector ballooned, with BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion jumping 10.7%.
The company’s shares were up $1.43 to $14.74 ahead of the launch of its BlackBerry 10 devices later this month, as reports emerged that one of its biggest competitors may be feeling some strain in their sales.
The TSX mining and metals sector slid a bit amid a batch of deals.
Switzerland’s Swatch Group has reached an agreement to buy Harry Winston Diamond’s retail jewelry and watch division for US$1 billion in cash and assumed debt.
The Toronto-based company says the deal will position it to pursue mining opportunities as Dominion Diamond Corp. Its shares were up 3.4%, or 49 cents, to $14.76.
Alamos Gold Inc. is making a takeover bid for Aurizon Mines Ltd. that values the Vancouver-based company at $780 million, or $4.65 per Aurizon share in cash and stock.
Aurizon’s board has yet to make a public comment on the proposal. Aurizon’s shares were up $1.13, or 33.1%, to $4.54. Alamos shares dipped $1.97, or 11.6%, to $14.95.
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. Its shares rose 14.7%, or 36 cents, to $2.77.
Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. has reached an agreement with Chrysler Canada under which the auto company will install
SiriusXM commercial-free satellite radios into an unspecified number of vehicles over the next five years. CSR shares were up 16 cents, or 2.7%, to $6.16.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slipped 10.72 points to 1,229.53
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups moved forward Monday, led by a 2.6% surge in information technology stocks, while health-care were 0.7% haler and consumer discretionary issues gained 0.3%.
The four laggards were weighed mostly by energy, off 0.5%, while the metals and mining and gold groups each tailed off 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
The technology sector was in focus Monday, as shares of Apple declined and Dell's stock surged.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished positive by 18.89 points to 13,507.30
The S&P 500 faltered 1.37 points to 1,470.68. The Nasdaq Composite moved down 8.13 points to 3,117.50
Apple, which briefly dipped below $500 U.S. following reports that the company cut orders for iPhone 5 components due to weak demand, was among the biggest losers in Nasdaq. Apple's decline weighed on the tech-heavy index in earlier trading.
But a late-afternoon rally in shares of Dell trimmed some of those losses. Dell climbed more than 15% following a Bloomberg report that the PC maker was in talks to go private.
Fellow PC maker Hewlett-Packard also rose sharply on news that it had dethroned Lenovo as the top maker of personal computers.
The 5% rise in HP's stock helped the Dow Jones industrial average post modest gains of about 0.2%. HP shares were also upgraded by an analyst at JPMorgan.
But the broader U.S. market was little changed as investors gear up for a slew of corporate earnings coming this week.
Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are due to report their results Wednesday, while Intel, Bank of America and General Electric are up later in the week.
In other corporate news, United Parcel Service Inc scrapped plans for a $6.8-billion U.S. merger with TNT Express NV, a smaller Dutch package delivery company. UPS blamed the European Commission for ruining the deal, saying the antitrust regulator wouldn't allow it.
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 6%, even though the deal won't include its gemstone mining operations.
Shares of Herbalife were also sharply higher. Last week, Third Point, the hedge fund founded by Dan Loeb, said it had taken an 8% stake in the nutritional supplement firm. The company has been in the spotlight following accusations by another hedge fund manager,
Pershing Square's Bill Ackman, who has called the company "a pyramid scheme."
Flowers Foods shares gained ground after the company announced an offer to buy Wonder, Nature's Pride and three other bread brands from bankrupt Hostess for $360 million. In a separate transaction, Flowers said it would also buy the Beefsteak brand of rye bread for $30 million U.S.
S&P 500 companies are expected to report overall earnings growth of 2.4% for the last three months of 2012, according to observers, 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 was 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 1.86% from Friday’s 1.88%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices recouped 59 cents to $94.15 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices remained positive $7.30 an ounce to $1,667.90 U.S.
