Equity markets in Canada's biggest centre moved slightly higher midday Tuesday as a thunderous fall in miner Teck Resources Ltd was cushioned by modest gains in industrials and heavily-weighted financials.
The S&P/TSX composite index moved up 10.15 points to greet noon at 14,918.54
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.04 cents to 78.92 cents U.S.
Vancouver-based Teck was the most influential decliner, retreating 8.6% to $17.78. The stock had surged on Monday after Bloomberg News reported that Teck and Chile's Antofagasta Plc were in early-stage merger discussions. The two companies subsequently denied the report.
The index's materials sector, home to mining issues, pressured in part by weak commodity prices. Gold was headed for its third quarter of price drops, while nickel prices extended recent hefty losses, hitting the lowest price in nearly six years on record supply and weak demand.
Financial technology firm D+H Corp fell 2.9% to $38.46 after it said on Monday it agreed to acquire global payment services provider Fundtech for $1.25 billion in cash.
Offsetting the declines were rises in financial stocks and industrial shares.
Canadian National Railway was the most influential gainer, rising 0.7% to $84.26.
Other top advancers included Bank of Nova Scotia, which was up 0.4% at $62.97, and Toronto-Dominion Bank, which also added 0.4%, to $53.52.
In the economic docket, Statistics Canada reported that Gross Domestic Product in this country was down 0.1% in January, after increasing 0.3% in December and declining 0.2% in November.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 0.76 points to 679.57
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were pointed downward as morning became afternoon. Metals and mining stumbled 2.9%, global base metals dropped 2.2%, and materials slipped 0.8%.
The four gainers were headed by industrials, up 0.7%, financials, up 0.6%, and consumer discretionaries, gaining 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded lower on Tuesday, following the prior day's major gains, as investors eyed economic data and the end of the first quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrials backtracked 121.05 points to 17,855.26, with Chevron the greatest laggard and American Express leading advancers.
As of Monday's close, UnitedHealth was the best blue-chip performer for the quarter and American Express the worst.
The S&P 500 receded 8.92 points to 2,077.32, with industrials the greatest of eight declining sectors and utilities and consumer discretionary the only two gainers.
The NASDAQ fell 23.89 points to 4,920.18
In the S&P 500 and NASDAQ, Kraft Foods had the best performance for the quarter and SanDisk the worst, as of the close Monday.
Comcast is establishing a new company that will focus on investing and operating growth-oriented companies, to be led by current Chief Financial Officer Michael Angelakis. Comcast will immediately begin a search for a new CFO.
IBM will invest $3 billion U.S. in a unit centred around the "internet of things." The unit's first partnership is with Weather Channel parent Weather Co., which will move its data services into the IBM "cloud."
Starbucks debuts a new line of smoothies at some of its U.S. shops, as part of a partnership with France's Danone, maker of the Dannon yogurt brand.
Investor Bill Ackman said shutting down nutritional supplements maker Herbalife is "one of the most importing things" he can do.
Ackman made his comments at a meeting of the Council of Institution Investors, speaking about his massive short bet against Herbalife that began in December 2012 and his claims that Herbalife is a pyramid scheme.
Online fashion retailer Net-a-Porter will be combined with Italian online clothing company Yoox in a deal that creates a company with annual revenue of more than $1.3 billion U.S. Forbes had reported last week that Amazon was in talks to buy Net-a-Porter.
The latest consumer confidence reading showed an increase to 101.3 in March, above February's 98.8.
The Chicago PMI for March posted 46.3, a slight increase from last month but below expectations for 51.5.
Case-Shiller house price indices for January showed an increase from last year.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained some ground, lowering yields to 1.94% from Monday’s 1.96%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 34 cents to $48.34 U.S.
Gold prices gained $1.70 to $1,187.00 U.S.
