The Toronto stock market moved higher Monday as investors bought up battered gold and financial stocks that slipped last week in the wake of earnings reports from the big banks
The S&P/TSX composite index progressed 32.06 points to finish at 13,312.78, off its highs for the day.
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.08 cents to 94.01 cents U.S.
The gold sector ran ahead while Barrick Gold advanced 60 cents to $16.98.
Guyana Goldfields Inc. has revised up the total capital cost of its Aurora Gold project to $249 million U.S. and approved a spending plan to bring it to commercial production. However, the new estimate is well below an earlier estimate, after the company scaled back its plans earlier this year.
Guyana shares were ahead six cents to $1.66.
The financials sector was ahead, clawing back some of last week's 1.6% decline following a mixed earnings performance from the big banks.
Royal Bank gained 71 cents to $69.76.
The energy sector was ahead with oil prices lower following a string of gains last week amid figures showing bigger than expected drawdowns in U.S. inventories.
Canadian Natural Resources improved by 38 cents to $34.58.
Equal Energy Ltd. says it's 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 about $230 million U.S. Equal shares were one cent lower at $5.73.
The base metals component strengthened, with March copper up a penny at $3.26 U.S. a pound as China 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.
Teck Resources climbed 20 cents to $25.20.
The tech sector was the weakest component with shares in BlackBerry down 21 cents to $6.06, its lowest level in at least 10 years and down dramatically from its 52-week high of $18.49.
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 fell 14.58 points to 902.07
Nine of the 14 TSX subgroups were positive on the day, led by gold, up 1.8%, while materials gained 1% and global base metals tacked on 0.8%.
The five laggards were weighed by information technology issues, down 0.9%, health-care, sliding 0.7%, and industrials, off 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks edged higher 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 5.33 points to 16,025.53
The S&P 500 index added 3.27 points to 1,808.36. The NASDAQ took on 6.23 points to 4,068.75
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 were up about 3% after surging 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 9% 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% as the fast food chain reported a drop in U.S. sales for November.
Twitter popped more than 10%, but with no news, it's unclear what was driving the stock higher.
Shares of Baidu, China's largest search engine, were also up, but like Twitter, there was no news to explain the move. But it appears that momentum is on its side. Shares are up more than 70% this year.
BlackBerry was under pressure again, with shares falling more than 2% and hitting a new 52-week low. Shares of the once dominant smartphone maker have fallen over 50% this year. In November, the company ditched plans to go private and investors are worried about BlackBerry's future.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained ground, lowering yields to 2.86% from Friday’s 2.88%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices settled 29 cents to $97.36 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices picked up $11.60 to $1,240.60 U.S. an ounce.
