Equities in Canada’s largest centre see-sawed early Tuesday, as financial stocks weighed, offsetting rises for several stocks whose earnings reports produced positive surprises, including energy company Encana Corp and e-commerce company Shopify.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index eked up 0.94 points to open Tuesday at 15,576.57
The Canadian dollar doffed 0.19 cents at 72.94 cents U.S.
Encana, for its part, reported a better-than-expected operating profit for the first quarter on Tuesday, helped by a rise in oil and gas prices.
Encana dipped 13 cents to $14.43.
WestJet Airlines on Tuesday reported a 45% fall in quarterly profit, as higher fuel costs squeezed margins.
WestJet shares fell 84 cents, or 3.7%, to $22.00.
Shopify shares hiked $2.83, or 2.7%, to $108.90.
Sumitomo Corp said on Tuesday it and Korea Resources Corp (Kores) will get a larger stake in the Ambatovy nickel project in Madagascar, as part of a debt restructuring deal with partner Sherritt International Corp., whose shares gained 17 cents, or 18.9%, to $1.08.
Canaccord Genuity raised the rating on Finning International to buy from hold. Finning shares grew 96 cents, or 3.7%, to $27.02.
National Bank of Canada started coverage on Sleep Country Canada with an outperform rating. Sleep Country shares roused themselves 28 cents to $35.61.
National Bank of Canada resumed coverage on Genworth MI Canada with a sector perform rating. Genworth shares gained 18 cents to $33.99.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange demurred 3.1 points to 797.96
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive in the first hour, as health-care bolted 2.1% higher, information technology climbed 0.6%, and real-estate gained 0.4%.
The three laggards were financials, materials and consumer discretionaries, each down 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded mixed on Tuesday as Apple made impressive gains
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 7.39 points to open Tuesday at 20.920.85, with Boeing and Apple contributing the most gains.
The S&P 500 docked 0.83 points to 2,387.50, with consumer discretionary leading decliners, after opening higher.
The NASDAQ Composite slid 5.93 points from Monday’s all-time high to 6,085.67, with shares of Apple also hitting a new high, before turning lower
Apple is set to report fiscal second-quarter earnings after the bell Tuesday. One of the key metrics investors will be watching out for in those earnings are iPhone sales.
The tech giant makes most of its money from iPhone — and even if it meets estimates of 52 million, that's not a lot more than the 51 million it reported a year ago.
Earnings season continued, with Mondelez and Gilead Sciences set to report after the bell.
In economic news, U.S. automakers will be releasing monthly sales numbers throughout the day.
Wall Street also kept an eye on the Federal Reserve, with the central bank kicking off a two-day monetary policy meeting.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained, lowering yields to 2.31% from Monday’s 2.32%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost 14 cents at $48.70 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices lost 30 cents at $1,255.20 U.S. an ounce.
