The Toronto stock market ran ahead Monday with investors feeling relieved that China is not raising interest rates to deal with high inflation levels.
Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index finished a very successful Monday ahead 56.39 points to 13,295.86.
Investors were concerned going into this past weekend that China would raise interest rates to deal with inflation that surged to a 28-month high of 5.1% in November, which again raised worries that the country’s economy could slow. Instead, the central bank ordered another increase in banks’ capital reserves on Friday in the latest move to reduce excess liquidity.
Suncor Energy was up 43 cents at $36.63 while Canadian Natural Resources was ahead $1.02 at $43.26.
The base metals segment rose, thoughTeck Resources stepped back 17 cents at $57.73 and Quadra FNX Mining advancing 90 cents to $16.04.
Ivanhoe Mines shares jumped 49 cents to $24.73 as it said it has approved a $2.3-billion U.S. capital budget for ongoing construction at its Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia. The Vancouver-based miner holds a 66% stake in the mine, while the Mongolian government holds the remaining 34%
Among gold issues, Goldcorp Inc. was down six cents at $46.44 while Barrick Gold Corp. improved by 49 cents to $54.32.
Gold Wheaton Gold Corp. shares were ahead 61 cents or 13.9% to $4.99 after the company announced that it will be acquired by Franco-Nevada Corp. for $830 million in cash and shares. Franco-Nevada shares slipped $1.26 to $32.15.
Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. was added to the S&P/TSX composite index Monday. Its shares lost 38 cents to $14.96.
In the financial sector, Scotiabank was ahead 56 cents to $56.56 while Sun Life Financial was ahead 66 cents to $30.18.
Royal Bank of Canada is acquiring Loudoun Capital Partners, a boutique financial advisory group in Europe for an undisclosed amount. Its shares rose seven cents to $52.82.
In the telecom stocks, Rogers Communications backed away 67 cents to $34.88.
Priszm Income Fund says it’s selling off its 232 restaurants in Ontario and British Columbia to a numbered company owned by a European franchisee of Yum! Restaurants International for about $46.4 million. Units in the operator of most of Canada’s KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut restaurants were down 9.5 cents or 33.3% at 19 cents.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada reported that Canadian industries operated at 78.1% of their production capacity in the third quarter, up from 76.9% in the second quarter. The agency said the improvement was driven by the manufacturing sector.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange progressed 6.45 points to 2,130.75, while the Nasdaq Canada index faded 8.19 points to 762.41
In Toronto, all but four of the 14 subgroups were higher on the day, with utilities ahead 1.2%, energy stocks 1% stronger and global base metals up 0.8%.
The four laggards were weighed down by health-care stocks, off 1%, telecoms, sliding 0.9%, and industrials inching back 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks hovered near the breakeven point Monday as investors mulled over a flurry of corporate deals and awaited a Senate vote on the extension of the Bush tax cuts.
The Dow Jones Industrials closed the day up 18.24 points to 11,428.60.
The S&P 500 moved up 0.06 points to 1,240.46. The Nasdaq Composite Index gave back 12.63 points to 2,624.91.
Eighteen components of the Dow 30 gained. Caterpillar, Disney and Chevron were the biggest winners, while Bank of America, Intel and Boeing led the declines.
Markets churned higher last week, with the S&P 500 reaching its highest level in two years on Friday, amid upbeat economic news and a dividend hike by General Electric.
The S&P 500 is up more than 83% from its 2009 low and is 11% higher for the year, according to Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at S&P.
With no market-moving economic data expected Monday, gains were muffled as investors awaited the next steps from Washington.
Corporate dealmaking talk greeted investors Monday.
General Electric offered $1.3 billion U.S. for Wellstream Holdings, an engineer and manufacturer of products for oil and gas transportation in the subsea production industry. Shares of GE edged lower.
Thermo Fisher Scientific, the parent company of Thermo Scientific and Fisher Scientific, announced that it would acquire Dionex for about $2.1 billion U.S. -- or $118.50 U.S. per share in cash. Dionex is a leading manufacturer and marketer of chromatography systems. Thermo Fisher's offer represents a 21% premium to Dionex's closing stock price on Dec. 10.
Dell announced that it has purchased data storage company Compellent Technologies for $27.75 U.S. per share in cash. Last Thursday, Dell announced it was in talks with Compellent about a potential deal. Shares of Dell fell 3%, while shares of Compellent slid 2.7%.
The deal is a "take-under," since it valued Compellent at a lower price than its previous close.
Shares of FedEx edged up slightly on what was projected to be the delivery giant's busiest day of the year. The company expects to move nearly 16 million shipments around the world on Monday.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury hiked, lowering the yield to 3.28% from Friday’s 3.30%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil tacked on eight cents a barrel to $88.45 U.S.
Gold futures for February delivery jumped $13.10 to settle at $1,398 U.S. an ounce.
