The Toronto stock market was higher Thursday as investors looked for direction in what has been a choppy week amid signs of slowing economic growth around the world.
The S&P/TSX index gained 71.25 points to reach noon at 12,018.54
The Canadian dollar regained 0.09 cents at 97.52 cents U.S.
The gold sector advanced, as a rising U.S. dollar and the prospect of troubled euro-zone countries selling off part of their gold reserves to tackle debt problems have sent gold to their lowest levels in over two years, with prices falling $140.00 U.S. on Monday alone.
Goldcorp Inc. gained 75 cents to $28.70.
Barrick Gold shares added 34 cents to $18.51 even after Moody’s Investors Service said the miner had been placed under review for a potential ratings downgrade.
The move came after a Chilean court last week ordered a halt to construction at Barrick’s $8-billion Pascua-Lama project due to environmental concerns. That development and tumbling gold prices this week have sent Barrick shares down about 30% since April 5.
The energy sector was up as Cenovus Energy advanced 36 cents to $29.07.
Copper, viewed as an economic bellwether, continued to plumb 18-month lows because of falling demand prospects. On Thursday, the May copper contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange slipped one cent to $3.18 U.S. a pound. Copper has fallen 13% year to date.
However, the base metals sector was up after steep losses on Monday and Wednesday. Teck Resources gave back 33 cents to $25.09 while First Quantum Minerals gained 24 cents to $15.67.
Defensive stocks were also popular, with the consumer staples sector ahead. Grocer Metro improved by 75 cents to $65.68.
Techs led TSX decliners Thursday with Celestica down 13 cents to $7.89.
Financials also weighed on the TSX as TD Bank moved down 96 cents to $79.88.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched up 2.47 points to 926.07
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher by noon, led by gold, up 2.7%, materials, gaining 2.2%, and energy, stronger by 1.5%.
The four laggards were weighed most heavily by information technology, down 1.2%, consumer discretionaries, off 0.3%, and financials, sliding 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks slid for a second day Thursday, as investors parsed through another big batch of earnings results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 62.17 points at midday to 14,556.40
The S&P 500 index fell 6.84 points to 1,545.17. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite flopped 28.48 points to 3,176.20
Financial and technology stocks were big laggards.
Morgan Stanley's reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue, but weakness in traditional trading revenue pushed shares down 4%. Bank of America, which tumbled nearly 5% Wednesday after missing first-quarter earnings estimates, sank another 3% Thursday, making it the biggest loser on the Dow.
On the tech front, Nokia's stock price dropped 12% after the Finnish cell phone company reported a 20% drop in quarterly sales.
eBay shares were the biggest drag on the NASDAQ, falling 4% after the online-auction site issued weak second-quarter guidance. And while SanDisk reported better-than-expected earnings and sales for the first-quarter, shares of the company also declined 3%.
Apple's shares remained under pressure a day after its stock fell nearly 6%. Shares fell to $395.27 U.S., the lowest since November 2011. Apple was most recently hampered by a negative sales forecast from iPhone supplier Cirrus Logic.
Techs will remain in focus, as IBM, Google and Microsoft are all scheduled to report earnings after the close.
While technology stocks were largely weighing on the broader market, Verizon was bucking the trend. Shares of the company jumped more than 3% after it beat earnings forecasts.
Also on the bright side, PepsiCo shares climbed 5% on better-than-expected quarterly earnings.
Shares of Carnival Corp.'s rose after the cruise ship company said it planned to invest more than $600 million U.S. into fixing its disaster-prone toilets.
In economic news, the government said initial jobless claims increased by 4,000 to 352,000 in the week ended April 13. That was slightly below forecasts.
Prices on the 10-year U.S. Treasury gained more ground, lowering yields to 1.69% from Wednesday’s 1.70%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices recouped 71 cents to $87.39 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained back $9.30 to $1,392 U.S. an ounce
