The Toronto stock market was lower Thursday on the final day of first-quarter trading but the market found support in a surprise profit from tech giant BlackBerry amid the rollout of its new touchscreen Z10 smartphone.
The S&P/TSX index remained negative by 12.15 as noon approached to 12,687.50
The Canadian dollar was virtually unchanged at 98.38 cents U.S.
BlackBerry shares were up 58 cents or 3.9% at $15.38 after the company posted a profit of $98 million U.S. or 19 cents per share compared with a loss of $125 million or 24 cents per share a year ago.
The TSX was set to end the week with a loss after the Cyprus bailout agreement was clinched in the early hours of Monday morning.
Early relief gave way to concern that the Cyprus bailout agreement may be a model for the future.
Uncertainty over the political future of Italy was also putting pressure on the euro. Following inconclusive elections around a month ago, the country is still without a government and that has raised concerns over its future economic path. Italy is the third-largest economy of the 17 countries that use the euro.
The financials sector fell, with Scotiabank dropping $1 to $58.41.
The gold sector was down as Iamgold Corp. faded seven cents to $7.31.
The energy sector was off even as Suncor Energy shares added 12 cents to $30.52 after it announced Wednesday it was not going ahead with its troubled Voyageur oilsands upgrader project, citing market conditions which have changed significantly, challenging the economics of the project. Suncor took a $1.49-billion writedown on Voyageur in the fourth quarter of 2012.
The company said it will take a charge to its first quarter net income and cash flow from operations of approximately $140 million and $180 million respectively as a result of the decision.
The TSX found support from the utilities sector, as Atlantic Power gained nine cents to $5.18.
Industrials also advanced with Canadian Pacific Railway ahead $2.27 to $131.33.
May copper shed early gains and was unchanged at $3.44 U.S. a pound and the base metals sector gained 0.26 per cent. Rio Alto Mining rose 17 cents to $4.90.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported that the economy grew 0.2% in January, after a 0.2% decrease in December.
Manufacturing was the largest contributor to the January growth in real gross domestic product.
Elsewhere, the agency reported that its Industrial Product Price Index rose 1.4% in February, mostly due to higher petroleum and coal prices. Its Raw Materials Price Index hiked 2.2% as a result of higher prices for crude oil.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell back 0.81 points to 1,096.18
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups had made their way upward, led by information technology, utilities and industrials, each up 1%.
The five laggards were weighed mostly by gold, duller by 0.9%, materials, 0.7% weaker, and consumer staples, trailing Wednesday’s close by 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 topped its all-time closing high in morning trading Thursday, after flirting with the milestone for weeks.
The Dow Jones Industrials gathered 39.22 points to 14,565.40
The S&P 500 index moved higher by 4.42 points to 1,567.27. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite picked up 2.66 points to 3,259.18.
Despite the new milestone, trading was relatively calm Thursday as investors monitored the ongoing crisis in Cyprus and mulled over new economic data in the United States.
But the first quarter of 2013 has been far from quiet. The Dow, which has been trading at record highs since early March, is up more than 11% and poised to book its best first quarter since 1998. The S&P 500 is up almost 10%. The NASDAQ is up 8%.
In corporate news, struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry reported a surprise profit before the opening bell, but sales missed forecasts. The stock rose 2.5% in morning trading.
Banks in Cyprus reopened Thursday morning after being closed since March 16. The island nation plans to limit the amount of money that depositors can withdraw in an attempt to prevent bank runs.
Cyprus agreed early Monday to raise billions of euros from big depositors at the Bank of Cyprus and Popular Bank of Cyprus, and to shrink its banking sector in return for a €10-billion European Union bailout.
Back in the United States, the government released its weekly data on initial jobless claims and its final reading on fourth-quarter GDP.
Jobless claims totaled 357,000 in the week ended March 23, an increase of 16,000 from the prior week and much worse than expected. The forecast called for a total of 335,000, according to a consensus of economists complied by Briefing.com.
The final government report for fourth-quarter GDP showed an annual increase of 0.4%, slightly higher than the expected increase of 0.3%. The prior reading showed the economy grew at a 0.1% pace.
Prices on the 10-year U.S. Treasury sagged a bit, raising yields to 1.86% from Wednesday’s 1.85%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices raised themselves 30 cents to $96.82 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices sank $8.20 to $1,598.20 U.S. an ounce.
