The Toronto stock market began the week with slight, hesitant gains, despite yet another surge by the much-maligned Research In Motion, as investors digested new economic data.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 22.75 points to begin the day at 12,748.44
The Canadian dollar lost 0.04 cents to 100.76 cents U.S.
Research In Motion Ltd. soared at the open on the TSX, rising 7.6% to $16.90 even as the higher-volume U.S. market was closed for a holiday.
Today's move was reminiscent of trading activity on U.S. Thanksgiving Day, when RIM jumped 18% on the TSX while the Nasdaq was closed. Back then, the rally was linked to National Bank Financial raising its sales estimates for the BlackBerry 10.
Today, there appeared to be little fresh news concerning RIM, but the stock has been on a tear since early November ahead of the launch later this month of the new device.
Elsewhere, CIBC cut the target price on Teck Resources Ltd. to $50 from $52 on valuation and price estimate changes. CIBC stock docked three cents to $82.97 in the session’s first hour.
Rona Inc. announced a wide-ranging shakeup of its board, with the chairman of Richelieu Hardware, Robert Chevrier, being installed as the new chairman. Rona shares hiked 26 cents, or 2.3%, to $11.76.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported this morning that wholesale sales rose 0.7% in November to $49.6 billion, mostly due to higher computer sales, and that of other communications equipment. The nation’s number-crunchers added that in volume terms, wholesale sales were up 0.5%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange took on 3.42 points to 1,238.74
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups gained to begin Monday, led by information technology, up 1.5%, while industrials picked up 0.5% and real-estate grew 0.4%.
The four laggards were weighed mostly by energy, telecoms and global base metals, each off 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Markets are closed Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday.
