Stocks in Toronto eked up at Wednesday’s open, despite concerns about the health of the euro-zone’s economy and weaker-than-expected results from Suncor Energy Inc, the country's biggest oil company.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 24.26 points to open Wednesday at 12,769.91
The Canadian dollar ditched 0.14 of a cent to 100.31 cents U.S.
Suncor posted a fourth-quarter loss as it wrote down the value of its Voyageur oil sands upgrading project just weeks before it is due to make a final decision on whether to build the facility. Suncor shares demurred $1.28, or 3.7%, to $33.10
TMX Group Ltd reported a profit for the first full quarter since the operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange was bought by a financial consortium last year. TMX shares galloped ahead $2.00, or 3.6%, to $57.48.
Husky Energy Inc, Canada's number-three oil producer and refiner, reported a 16% rise in fourth-quarter net profit, helped by a higher refining margin. Husky shares slid 19 cents to $31.18
Property and casualty insurer Intact Financial Corp said fourth-quarter profit more than doubled, helped by higher investment gains. Intact shares gained 12 cents to $65.80.
WestJet Airlines Ltd, Canada's second-largest airline, reported a rise in fourth-quarter profit on higher traffic and record load factor in December. WestJet shares gathered 15 cents to $22.70
On the economic beat, the Ivey Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) was announced this hour, and was found to be 58.9 by the end of January. The corresponding Ivey PMI figure for December 2012 was 52.8; the figure for January 2012 was 64.1 and for January 2011 was 46.8. A figure above 50 shows an increase in purchasing while below 50 shows a decrease.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange erased 0.85 points to begin Wednesday’s session at 1,214.42
Still, all but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were positive to start Wednesday. Consumer staples and information technology issues were co-leaders, advancing 0.9% each, while telecoms prospered 0.5%.
The three laggards were energy, sliding 0.8%, global base metals, down 0.1%, and utilities, off 0.03%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks edged lower at the open Wednesday, with financial shares pressuring the broader market as investors parsed through another batch of earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 39.23 points to 13,940.10, dragged down by JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America
The S&P 500 index fell 3.47 points to 1,507.82. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite gave back 7.44 points to 3,164.14
Time Warner posted better-than-expected earnings and hiked its dividend by 11%.
Shares of Irish neuroscience biotech company Elan rose more than 6% after the company reported strong earnings and said it would pay $3.25 billion U.S. to end its collaboration with Biogen Indec.
Disney shares rose in early trading, a day after the media company reported earnings and revenues that beat analysts' forecasts.
Zynga's results also came in ahead of forecasts late Tuesday.
News Corp, Yelp and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters are up after the bell.
Aside from earnings, investors are starting to worry about the latest phone launch from BlackBerry, formerly known as Research in Motion. News outlets reported short or nonexistent lines Tuesday at stores in the phone maker's home country of Canada.
Hewlett-Packard shares rose for a second day, following its publicly stated threat to steal customers away from Dell, which announced plans to go private.
Prices on the 10-year U.S. Treasury sparked, lowering yields to 1.98% from Tuesday’s 2.02%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slipped $1.14 to $95.50 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices shone brighter by $4.80 to $1,678.30 U.S. an ounce.
