The Toronto stock market reversed course and gained ground Thursday on the final day of first-quarter trading, as 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 gained 50.25 points to close the day, week, month and quarter at 12,749.90
The Canadian dollar was up 0.05 cents at 98.43 cents U.S.
BlackBerry shares were up 29 cents or 2% at $15.09 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 mood was generally calm despite some long queues at certain branches. Cyprus has imposed capital controls to prevent a run on the banks, the first time such measures have been taken since the euro was established in 1999.
The TSX was set to end the week little changed 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 TSX utilities sector was also among the biggest advancers, as Canadian Utilities gained $1.59, or 2%, to $80.51.
Industrials also advanced with Canadian Pacific Railway ahead $3.48, or 2.7%, to $132.54.
The energy sector turned positive, as Suncor Energy shares added four cents to $30.44 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.
May copper shed early gains and closed four cents lower at $3.40 U.S. a pound and the base metals sector gained some ground.
HudBay Minerals rose 16 cents to $9.77.
The gold sector was down as Iamgold Corp. faded five cents to $7.33.
The financials sector was, with Scotiabank dropping 30 cents to $59.11.
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 regained 1.21 points to 1,099.
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups ended the day upward, led by information technology, up 1.6%, while utilities and industrials, were each up 1.4%.
The four laggards were weighed mostly by materials and gold, each weaker by 0.5%, while global base metals doffed 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 topped its all-time closing high Thursday, after flirting with the milestone for weeks.
The index moved higher by 6.3 points to finish at 1,569.15
The Dow Jones Industrials gathered 52.38 points to 14,578.50
The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite picked up 11 points to 3,267.52.
Despite the new milestone, trading was relatively calm as investors monitored the ongoing crisis in Cyprus and mulled over new economic data in the United States. Volume was low ahead of Good Friday. The markets will be closed in the United States and most of Europe Friday.
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%.
The biggest gains were logged in January, but March has been a solid month for stocks as well, with all three indexes up more than 3%.
Stocks continued to rally in the holiday-shortened week despite Cyprus concerns. The Dow was up just 0.3% for the week, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ were up about 0.6%.
Wall Street strategists are betting the rally will continue. Wells Fargo Advisors increased its year-end 2013 target range for the S&P 500 to 1,575-1,625 from an earlier forecast of 1,525-1,575.
The best-performing stock of the year in the S&P 500 is Netflix. Shares have more than doubled in the last few months as investors have become optimistic about the company's growth prospects, despite a series of missteps over the last couple of years. Best Buy and Hewlett-Packard, struggling companies that are in the middle of turnaround efforts, are the next strongest performers, with shares up 87% and 65% respectively.
Some of the weaker links are JC Penney, which is having more trouble than success with its makeover plan, as well as coal company Peabody Energy and mining firm Cliffs Natural Resource
Shares of Blackberry rose after it reported a surprise profit. Sales of struggling smartphone maker however fell short of expectations.
Shares of Pinnacle Foods, owner of brands including Duncan Hines and Birds Eye, rose 12% in their stock market debut. Pinnacle raised $580 million U.S. in its initial public offering after pricing shares at the high ends its range. The company is backed by private equity firm Blackstone.
Shares of Deckers Outdoor, which owns the Ugg boots brand, jumped after an analyst at Jefferies upgraded the stock and gave it a price target of $100 U.S. a share, nearly double its current price.
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 gained enough ground to lower yields to Wednesday’s 1.85%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices raised themselves 59 cents to $97.11 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices sank $10.40 to $1,596.00 U.S. an ounce.
