The Toronto stock market moved lower Thursday amid falling resource stocks but market heavyweight Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. was an exception after it announced its fourth-quarter profit more than doubled.
The S&P/TSX composite index ended the day down 55.55 points to 13,410.20
The Canadian dollar gained 0.06 cents to 100.64 cents U.S.
PotashCorp shares were well off early highs, up $5.35 to $172.73. The stock had jumped as high as almost $178 after the world’s biggest producer of potash, the nutrient used in fertilizer, said its net income was $482.3 million in the fourth quarter, or $1.61 per share. That was up from $239.2 million, or 79 cents per share, a year ago.
Sales were $1.8 billion, an increase from $1.1 billion in the comparable period and above analyst expectations of about $1.65 billion. The company’s profit would also have beat estimates except that the battle to fend off a hostile takeover by BHP Billiton cut 16 cents per share from PotashCorp’s earnings.
In the financials sector, Royal Bank gained 56 cents to $53.46.
The tech sector was also supportive as Celestica Inc. reported fourth-quarter revenue and adjusted profit that topped analyst expectations, although the global manufacturing company’s net income slipped from a year before.
Net income was $25.6 million U.S., or 11 cents per share, compared to $31.1 million U.S., or 13 cents per share in the same period a year ago and its shares jumped 49 cents to $9.91.
In the gold sector, Barrick Gold Corp. faded $1.53 to $46.06.
Metal prices advanced with the March copper contract on the Nymex ahead seven cents to $4.34 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources stepped back $1.83 to $59.08.
The energy sector dropped strength, with Suncor Energy losing 57 cents to $38.53.
Methanex Corp. is reporting fourth quarter net income of $27.9 million or 30 cents per diluted share. That compared with net income before unusual item of $10.6 million or 11 cents per diluted share for the third quarter of 2010 and its shares were down $1.14 to $28.68.
Shares in forest products company Tembec Inc. dipped 81 cents or 17.1% to $3.92 as it said its first-quarter net loss deepened 33% to $12 million despite higher sales.
There were again no economic reports over for investors to consider today.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange subtracted 10.97 points to 2,239.53, while the Nasdaq Canada index slid 6.86 points to 759.88.
In Toronto, winners and losers among the 14 subgroups were evenly divided. Health-care stocks led the gainers, picking up 2.4%, while consumer discretionaries and information technology issues garnered 0.6% each.
The laggards were weighed mostly by gold, off 2.8%, materials, swooning 1.6% and global base metals, down 1.5%
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks managed to tick higher Thursday afternoon, as investors took in mixed economic reports and the latest batch of corporate earnings.
Earlier in the session, the Dow and S&P 500 breached their highest levels in more than two years. But the gains were modest.
The Dow Jones Industrials remained up 4.39 points to 11,989.80. The blue chips were led by United Technologies, Home Depot and GE. Caterpillar, which posted a fourth-quarter profit that quadrupled from a year ago and a 62% surge in revenue, was also a big gainer.
The S&P 500 was 2.91 points better to 1,299.54. The index crossed 1,300 earlier in the session for the first time since September 2008. The Nasdaq Composite Index was 15.78 points higher to 2,749.44.
Netflix was the biggest gainer on both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. Shares of the movie distributor surged 15% after the company said subscribership topped a record 20 million. After the closing bell Wednesday, Netflix reported better-than-expected earnings but sales came in slightly below forecasts.
AT&T and Procter & Gamble were the biggest laggards on the Dow. Shares of AT&T fell 3% after the company's earnings only beat forecasts by a penny, while Procter & Gamble's stock dropped 3.8% after the company logged a lower quarterly profit.
Before the opening bell, Nokia reported a quarterly operating profit that fell 23% from a year ago and offered a disappointing outlook for the beginning of the year. Shares of the cellphone maker slumped 1.6%.
Tech giants Microsoft and Amazon were to release their quarterly earnings after the bell.
On the economic front, the number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits jumped 51,000 to 454,000 last week, according to the Commerce Department. The reading was much higher than expected. Continuing claims also rose more than expected.
Meanwhile, durable goods orders for the month of December slipped 2.5%, while economists had been expecting the reading to tick up 1.5%.
A report on pending home sales showed a 2% jump in November. Economists were expecting sales to slip 0.5% during the month.
Early Thursday, Standard & Poor's downgraded Japan's sovereign credit rating to AA- from AA, amid concerns of mounting debt.
Prices on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury regained ground Thursday, lowering the yield to 3.39% from Wednesday’s 3.43%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for February delivery descended $1.76 to $85.57 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery slipped $14.50 to settle at $1,318.40 U.S. an ounce.
