The Toronto stock market advanced Monday as commodity prices rose and traders looked ahead to a busy week of important economic data and quarterly earnings reports from a slew of companies in the mining, energy and financial sectors.
The S&P/TSX index soared 99.38 points to greet noon hour ET at 12,319.58
The Canadian dollar gathered 0.35 cents to 98.67 cents U.S.
Prices were higher across the board on commodity markets Monday morning as July copper in New York gained four cents to $3.22 U.S. a pound and the base metals component rose cent. Teck Resources was ahead 40 cents to $26.67.
On the TSX, the gold sector was up as Barrick Gold Corp. climbed 34 cents to $19.15.
Kinross Gold Corp. faded 19 cents to $5.37 as it announced it is going ahead with a full feasibility study aimed at a $2.7-billion expansion of its Tasiast open pit gold mine in Mauritania. Kinross said Monday that based on a pre-feasibility study it is now considering a 38,000-tonne per day mill at the mine, up from a 30,000-tonne facility under consideration earlier.
The energy sector gained as Suncor Energy was up 46 cents to $29.74 as the company prepares to hand in first quarter earnings after the close Monday. Analysts expected net earnings of $1.01 billion or 71 cents a share, compared with profits of $321 million, or 66 cents per share a year earlier.
But beyond that, investors are anxious to see the energy giant return some money to them in the form of a significant dividend increase since the company has deferred spending on projects.
Canadian Natural Resources, which posts earnings Thursday, advanced 40 cents to $29.98.
Outside of the resource sector, the tech component was up while BlackBerry rose 34 cents to $15.59.
And consumer discretionary stocks were also supportive with Magna International up 64 cents to $60.98.
Other companies handing in earnings this week include Kinross Gold, grocer Loblaw Cos., First Quantum Minerals and Manulife Financial
In corporate news, Capstone Mining Corp. is spending $650 million U.S. in cash to buy a copper mine and an associated railway in Arizona from a subsidiary of BHP Billiton. Capstone says the purchase of the Pinto Valley copper mining operation and the San Manuel Arizona Railroad Co. will immediately vault it into a position as an intermediate copper producer. Its shares rose seven cents to $2.14.
No major Canadian economic data was released today.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched up 2.30 points to 967.52
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose, with the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index heading for its sixth straight month of gains, as pending sales of homes climbed amid optimism central banks will maintain stimulus plans.
The Dow Jones Industrials advanced 104.67 points to break for lunch Monday at 14,817.20
The S&P 500 index added 12.12 to 1,594.36. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite grew 34.78 points to 3,314.04
Tenet Healthcare Corp. surged 7% as hospitals will get a pay raise from the U.S. government for treating patients in the Medicare program. Moody’s Investors Service Inc. and McGraw-Hill Cos. advanced at least 3% after a group of investors agreed to drop their claims against the companies.
Actavis Inc. and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. rose more than 4.2 % as people familiar with the situation said the companies are in merger talks that have stalled.
Enrico Letta was sworn in as Italy's prime minister, ending weeks of political deadlock and uncertainty in a country mired by recession.
The news pushed Italian stocks up more than 1%, while Italian bond yields dropped to their lowest levels in more than two years.
Expectations of a further rate cut from the European Central Bank and continued monetary support from the Federal Reserve later this week were also lending support.
Economically speaking, the index of pending home sales increased 1.5% after a revised 1% decline the prior month that was larger than initially reported, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed today in Washington.
Economists forecast a 1% increase, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
Separate data showed consumer spending rose more than projected in March. Household purchases, which account for about 70% of the economy, climbed 0.2% after a 0.7% gain the prior month, a Commerce Department report showed today in Washington.
Prices on the 10-year U.S. Treasury were unchanged, keeping yields at Friday’s 1.66%.
Oil prices acquired 91 cents to $93.91 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices shone brighter by $13.60 to $1,467.20 U.S. an ounce
