Stocks in Canada’s biggest market remained modestly higher on Tuesday as positive earnings results and a deal in the gaming sector helped offset declines in BlackBerry Ltd and other tech shares.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index remained buoyant 25.67 points to greet noon at 15,283.64
The Canadian dollar recovered 0.09 cents to 78.96 cents U.S.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International was among the most influential issues on the index, jumping 9.9% to $21.04 after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results and said it would hit its debt repayment target ahead of schedule.
Ritchie Bros Auctioneers rallied 11.3% to $38.69 after it reported quarterly revenue that was better than forecast.
Great Canadian Gaming surged 14.9% to $29.22 after it was announced that the casino operator and Brookfield Business Partners would acquire key Toronto area gaming assets and have exclusive rights to operate the assets for at least 22 years.
Brookfield Business shares rose 4.6% to $36.95.
Offsetting the gains was a retreat in information technology stocks.
BlackBerry took it on the chin 3.3% to $11.56 after Goldman Sachs resumed coverage of the company with a sell rating on Monday, when Canadian markets were closed for a holiday. Goldman Sachs said rising competition in enterprise mobility outweighed BlackBerry's automotive opportunities.
Software maker Open Text Corp fell 3.3% to $11.56.
Fertilizer makers Potash Corp and Agrium were both down, with Potash falling 1.3% to $22.53 a share and Agrium declining 1.4% to $125.92 a share.
Pretium Resources fell 8% to $10.40 a share.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange poked up 1.02 points to 766.70
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive midday Tuesday, as health-care sprinted 3.4%, consumer discretionary stocks improved 1%, and industrials muscled higher 0.7%.
The four laggards were weighed most by information technology issues, skidding 1.1%, while gold lost 0.8%, and utilities demurred 0.3%
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 notched record highs on Tuesday, with financials leading advancers.
The Dow jumped 42.07 points to 22,160.49, with Apple and Goldman Sachs contributing the most gains.
The S&P 500 regained 7.75 points to 2,488.66, while financials advanced 0.7%.
The NASDAQ spiked 33.94 points to 6,417.71
Disney is scheduled to release its earnings after the close Tuesday. Investors will be looking for clues about the company's cable business, especially ESPN.
As of Friday morning, calendar second-quarter earnings had grown 10.1%. S&P Capital IQ originally forecast earnings to grow by 6.2%.
Michael Kors and Ralph Lauren both posted better-than-expected earnings, sending their stocks higher by 19% and 8%, respectively.
Bond yields gained after the jobs openings and labour turnover survey (JOLTS for short) showed a record number of job openings for June.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note backtracked slightly, raising yields to 2.28% from Monday’s 2.26%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices inched up six cents to $49.45 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices slid $6.30 to $1,258.40 U.S. an ounce.
