The Toronto stock market was little changed Monday afternoon, held back by falling commodity stocks as the U.S. dollar gained strength amid persistent worries about the ability of Greece to repay its debt.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended Monday’s session by gaining 19.19 points to 11,967.17.
The Greek debt crisis continued to attract investor attention after Germany’s chancellor said yesterday that a bailout for Greece won’t be discussed at a European summit this week.
Greece is running unsustainably high deficits and needs support from other European countries so it can borrow money at lower interest rates. And the government has said if it doesn’t get that support from Europe, it might turn to the International Monetary Fund for help.
Investors are worried about the effect on the global economic recovery if Greece and some other European countries that use the euro -- such as Spain and Portugal -- falter in their struggle to pay down their heavy debt.
The energy sector was down, as Canadian Natural Resources shed 67 cents to $72.56.
The tepid performance in the energy sector came amid a report from the Conference Board of Canada predicting profits in the natural gas sector will increase in 2010. It added that higher prices will offset lower production. Nexen Inc. moved down 18 cents to $24.23.
The base metals sector was iffy as May copper also recovered early losses and was unchanged at $3.38 U.S. a pound. Sherritt International fell eight cents to $8.62 and First Quantum Minerals fell $2 to $87.28.
Among gold stocks, Goldcorp Inc. was off 23 cents at $39.22.
The financials sector was weak, with selling focused on insurers. Manulife Financial was down 19 cents at $19.95.
The telecom sector was up with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission set to rule Monday on the so-called TV tax or fee for carriage. Cable companies say such a fee could add $10 a month to consumers’ bills if the regulator rules they have to pay broadcasters for their local signals. The decision is expected after the market close.
Telus Corp. was the big gainer, up 60 cents at $37.08 while Rogers Communications ticked two cents lower to $35.35.
Traders focused on health stocks because the bill passed by the House will extend benefits to 32 million uninsured Americans. That means increased business for insurers and drug makers. Many of the key points of the bill will not go into effect for several years.
The TSX health-care segment was also a major advancer, with MDS Inc. ahead 14 cents to $8.54.
The founder of Biovail Corp., Eugene Melnyk, has sold "substantially all" of his holdings in the Toronto-area pharmaceutical company.
According to a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Melnyk has sold about 9.6 million Biovail shares since Nov. 24. At that time, the stock stood at $14.99. On Monday, Biovail shares were up 25 cents at $16.36. Melnyk left Biovail several years ago and has been often at odds with its management and board of directors about Biovail’s strategy.
Biovail shares garnered 16 cents more strength to $16.27.
In other corporate news, Enbridge Inc. said Monday that it plans to build a natural gas liquids pipeline from the Marcellus shale formation in the eastern United States to the Chicago area.
Its shares climbed 22 cents to $48.70.
Osisko Mining Corp. plans to acquire Hammond Reef gold project in Ontario through a takeover of Brett Resources Inc. of Vancouver in an all-stock deal valued at $372 million. Osisko stock was down 22 cents at $8.37, while Brett shed half a cent to 9.5 cents.
With no major economic news on tap today, movements in the prices of commodities will likely to guide trading in the resource heavy Bay Street.
The Canadian dollar was down 0.15 cents to 98.15 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but two of the 14 TSX subgroups ended the day in positive territory. Health-care soared 1.3%, while global base metals moved 1.2% higher, and real-estate moved ahead 1%.
The two laggards were energy, off 0.8%, and consumer staples, down 0.5%.
The TSX Venture Exchange retreated 9.47 points to 1,554.59. The Nasdaq Canada index gained 8.63 points to 794.85.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks gained Monday, with health care shares leading the way, as Congressional approval of a sweeping reform bill removed the uncertainty that has surrounded its passage for months.
The Dow Jones industrial average moved 43.91 points higher on the day to 10,785.89. The S&P 500 index was up 5.91 to 1,165.81, while the tech-rich Nasdaq shot up 20.99 points, to 2,395.40.
Stocks fell in the first minutes of the session on renewed questions about Greece's ability to repay its debt. But the market soon erased losses and turned higher as investors began snapping up biotech, health care provider and hospital sector stocks in the wake of the House of
Representatives' approval of the health-care bill.
Many of those stocks have been stuck in trading ranges over the last year amid questions about the breadth of any bill and whether or not Congress would approve it. But the removal of that uncertainty seemed to help lift the stocks beyond those ranges.
After months of contentious debate, the House passed a health care overhaul Sunday night that President Obama is expected to sign into law. The Senate already passed the measure late last year.
The broad-based bill will extend coverage to 32 million more people, require all Americans to have coverage and will prevent companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions.
Medicare prescription drug coverage will be expanded and people will be given subsidies to help pay for insurance.
The bill is expected to cost $940 billion U.S. over 10 years.
Hospital operators advanced, as they are seen benefiting from the increased number of customers. Tenet Healthcare gained more than 9% and Community Health Systems rallied 6.7%
Programs that focus on Medicaid gained as well, with Amerigroup gaining 4% and Molina Healthcare rising 4%.
Among other movers in the sector, insurers Cigna and Aetna were higher, MetLife was little changed and UnitedHealth WellPoint and Humana were lower.
Dow pharmaceutical stocks Merck and Pfizer both rallied around 2%. Other Dow gainers on the day, in different sectors, included American Express Caterpillar, DuPont, Hewlett-Packard and McDonald's
Google could announce as soon as Monday the closing of its Chinese Internet search engine, and what it plans to do with the rest of its China operations, according to published reports Monday.
The U.S. company said in January that it was no longer willing to censor its Chinese engine and that it would pull out of the country unless a solution was planned. The announcement followed a cyber attack on email accounts that targeted human rights activists.
Google shares inched lower Tuesday.
The price of the benchmark 10-year note gained slightly, lowering its yield to 3.66% from Friday’s 3.69%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil pulled ahead 62 cents to $81.30 U.S.
Gold prices dropped six dollars to $1,101 U.S.
