The Toronto stock market moved higher Monday amid mixed economic news out of Asia and rising commodities.
The S&P/TSX composite index progressed 59.08 points to pause for noon hour ET at 13,339.80, as investors bought up battered gold stocks and bank shares that slipped last week in the wake of earnings reports from the big banks.
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.03 cents to 93.96 cents U.S.
The gold sector ran ahead while Goldcorp advanced 27 cents to $22.71.
The financials sector was ahead, clawing back some of last week's 1.6% decline. Royal Bank gained 85 cents to $69.90.
The energy sector was ahead with Equal Energy Ltd. somewhat flat. The company says it has entered into a definitive agreement to be bought up by Petroflow Energy Corporation and Petroflow Canada Acquisition Corp. for $5.43 a share. Equal says the total transaction value is approximately $230 million U.S. Equal shares dipped one cent to $5.73.
The base metals component was slightly higher with March copper up a penny at $3.25 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources climbed 28 cents to $25.28.
Meanwhile, there was little reaction to data showing that China has posted its biggest trade surplus in almost five years, rising to $33.8 billion U.S. from $31.1 billion the month before. Exports ran ahead 12.7% from November last year, well ahead of October's 5.6% growth.
But imports grew only by 5.3% year-over-year amid tepid domestic demand.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan cut its estimate of economic growth for the July-September quarter. The world's third-largest economy grew an annualized 1.1% last quarter, less than half the pace of the previous quarter amid weaker than expected corporate investment. The initial estimate had put growth at 1.9%
On the economic front here, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported this morning that housing starts rose by 192,000 in November, in contrast with projections of 195,000 from experts.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange stumbled 13.52 points to 903.13
All but five of the 14 TSX subgroups were in the green at noon hour, led by gold, up 1.3%, financials, gaining 0.9%, and telecoms, better by 0.6%,
The five laggards were led by industrials, health-care and utilities, each off 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose again Monday, as the market continued to cheer Friday's better-than-expected jobs report as well as some notable mergers.
The Dow Jones Industrials added 15.62 points to 16,035.80
The S&P 500 index hiked 5.32 points to 1,810.41. The NASDAQ took on 7.36 points to 4,069.89
On Monday, investors welcomed the debut of the largest air carrier in the world, as American Airlines Group, the airline giant born from the American Airlines and US Airways merger, began trading on the NASDAQ under the new symbol AAL.
Shares of American Airlines group surged 9% out of the gate. The deal, which cleared a series of legal hurdles, including an antitrust lawsuit this fall from the Justice Department and a last-minute challenge from a consumer group, was inked Monday morning before the opening bell.
Sysco soared more than 16% after the company announced plans to buy rival US Foods for $3.5 billion U.S., bringing together two of the largest food distributors in the country.
McDonald's fell more than 1%, even though the fast-food chain reporting a slight increase in global sales.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained ground, lowering yields to 2.84% from Friday’s 2.88%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices moved ahead 10 cents to $97.75 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices picked up $5.60 to $1,234.60 U.S. an ounce.
