The Toronto stock market dipped slightly lower Monday afternoon amid deal-making that will see a major Chinese company buy a piece of the Canadian oilsands sector.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index surrendered 28.18 points to end the session at 12,148.66
ConocoPhillips announced Monday it plans to sell its 9.03% interest in Syncrude Canada Ltd. to China’s Sinopec for $4.65 billion.
Shares in Syncrude’s largest partner -- Canadian Oil Sands Trust, which owns a 37% stake in the project -- jumped $1.47 to $32.17, giving the company a market value of more than $16 billion.
On the TSX Venture Exchange, Petro Vista Energy Corp. shares surged eight cents or 37.2% to 28.5 cents following a positive drilling report on its Tartaruga Block in Brazil. It expects to initiate production within the next two weeks.
The consumer staples sector made headway as shares in convenience store owner Alimentation Couche Tarde improved by 80 cents, or 4.2%, to $19.70. The stock ran ahead 4% Friday after it announced a $1.8-billion U.S. cash offer for American convenience store chain Casey’s General Stores.
Other commodity sectors turned negative. The TSX global gold sector was off as Barrick Gold Corp. declined 52 cents to $40.97.
Gammon Gold Inc. shares were ahead 51 cents to $7.73 after it said two separate problems at its Ocampo mine in Mexico had a negative impact on its first-quarter financial results and pulled down production. The Halifax-based company said Monday that 36,546 gold equivalent ounces were produced in the quarter versus 41,997 ounces in the same period a year earlier.
The base metals sector was slightly lower while May copper shed three cents at $3.56 U.S. a pound.
In other corporate news, Telus Corp. shares dropped two cents to $37.78 as it said it plans to expand the scope of its broadband services in Quebec by investing $250 million in the province this year.
Lorus Therapeutics Inc. was a major advancer, up 2.5 cents, or 33.3% to 10 cents. The biopharmaceutical company said Monday that the production of the first clinical batch of its anti-cancer drug candidate LOR-253 has been successfully completed.
Orsu Metals Corp. said Friday it has signed a deal to raise up to $28 million that will be used to fund exploration and development of the company’s projects in Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic. Its shares were down 1.5 cents to 24 cents.
In economic news, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said the seasonally annual rate of housing starts dipped by 1.5% to 197,000 units in March, after having gained in the past two months.
The Canadian dollar regained 0.13 cents to 99.74 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Eight of the 14 TSX subgroups ended the day down. Gold sagged 1.3%, while materials slid 0.9% and the metals and mining group gave back 0.8%.
The half-dozen gainers were led by health-care stocks, ahead 0.8%, consumer staples, advancing 0.6% and information technology, up 0.2%.
The TSX Venture Exchange subtracted 6.90 points to 1,673.67, while the Nasdaq Canada index moved 3.84 points into the green to 783.76.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks managed gains Monday, with the Dow industrials closing above 11,000 for the first time in 18 months, after European leaders made loans available to Greece, tempering fears that the nation might have to default on its debt.
The Dow Jones industrial average added 8.62 points, finishing at 11,005.97, the highest close since Sept. 26, 2008, when it ended at 11,143.13.
The S&P 500 index gained 2.11 points, ending at an 18-month high of 1,196.48. The Nasdaq composite edged up 3.82 points, to 2,457.87, that index’s highest finish since June 19, 2008.
Investors got another bout of good news on the global front over the weekend, when European leaders agreed to make loans available to debt-burdened Greece.
The 16 countries that use the euro agreed to provide a collective $40 billion U.S., while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to kick in $13.5 billion U.S.
The loans, should Greece choose to access them, would have interest rates that are lower than what lenders had been requiring in recent days to hold Greek debt. Last Thursday, Greece's borrowing costs hit an all-time high as investors worried the country might default.
Greece is seen as something of the tip of the iceberg, with investors worrying that a default would exacerbate problems in other debt-burdened nations. Greece is one of the so-called PIIGS, along with Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain.
Aluminum producer Alcoa ignites the corporate reporting period after the close Monday. The Dow component is expected to have earned 10 cents per share versus a loss of 59 cents a year earlier, according to analysts surveyed by earnings tracker Thomson Reuters.
First-quarter earnings are expected to have risen 37% versus the prior year, while revenue is expected to have risen 10%, according to Thomson Reuters.
Gains are expected to be driven by financials, materials and consumer discretionary -- the sector that includes autos and retailers.
Intel reports results on Tuesday, while Google, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America are due later in the week.
The National Bureau of Economic Research, the panel of economists responsible for identifying changes in the U.S. business cycle said Monday that it is "premature" to say whether the recession that began in 2007 has ended.
Economically speaking, the March Treasury budget, due in the afternoon, is expected to show a surplus of $67.5 billion U.S., versus a deficit of $191.6 billion U.S. in February, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
U.S. Treasurys gained a bit of ground, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.85% from Friday’s 3.89%. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil slid 63 cents to $84.29 U.S.
Gold prices moved down six dollars to $1,156 U.S. an ounce.
