The Toronto stock market moved steadily higher Tuesday afternoon, led by gains in financial stocks and weighed down by energy companies, as oil continued to fall amid further indications of a slowing economy in the United States, Canada’s largest trading partner.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index surged 49.71 points to end the day at 13,441.06
The Canadian dollar regained 0.28 cents to 102.78 cents U.S.
The financial sector rose as Bank of Montreal gained 46 cents to $61.35 while TD Bank advanced $1.12 to $83.36.
The tech sector was also supportive but that was mainly due to market heavyweight Research In Motion Ltd., which rose 87 cents to $42.59.
In the oil patch, Suncor Energy regained eight cents to $38.58 and Cenovus Energy picked up nine cents to $32.76 as oil companies deal with fierce wildfires. Cenovus said Monday that its 22,000-barrel Pelican Lake heavy oil field could be shut down by Tuesday afternoon.
The base metals sector was slightly higher as the July copper contract on the Nymex dipped a penny to $3.98 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources gained $1.55 cents to $46.74 and Sherritt International lost 26 cents to $6.80.
The gold sector was down while Goldcorp Inc gained 11 cents to $47.37.
Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp. said Tuesday it has received confirmation that the Investment Canada Act doesn’t apply to its proposed acquisition of Equinox Minerals, which has its main operations in Africa. Barrick shares were down two cents to $43.97.
HudBay Minerals Inc. said after the market close Monday that quarterly earnings came in at $16.8 million or 11 cents a share, up from $10.6 million a year ago. That missed analyst expectations by four cents. Revenue came in at $177.3 million, down from $241.3 million in the same 2010 period, which also missed forecasts. Its shares added 25 cents to $14.14.
The TSX ended Monday’s session little changed following a slide of almost 1.5% last week.
Investors worry that the U.S. economic recovery is slowing, souring market sentiment over the past few weeks, particularly in stock markets and in commodities, following bumper gains in the first few months of the year.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported this morning that foreign investment in our securities increased to $6.3 billion in March, with acquisitions equally split between bonds and stocks. In contrast, Canadians removed $1.7 billion from their holdings of foreign debt instruments that month.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 27.45 points to 1,968.82 while the Nasdaq Canada index gained 5.04 points to 658.76
In Toronto, the 14 subgroups were evenly divided between winners and losers. The metals and mining group led the former, surging 1.3%, while telecoms prospered 1%, and materials got 0.9% better.
Health-care proved the sickest of the seven laggards, sagging 0.7%, while industrials and consumer discretionaries fell 0.3% each.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, equities fell Tuesday as investors digested a weak outlook from Hewlett-Packard, a grim read on the housing market and an unexpected drop in April industrial production.
Despite those negative factors, stocks came well off session lows in late afternoon trading.
The Dow Jones industrial average slumped 68.79 points by the close to 12,479.60. The Dow was down more than 150 points earlier in the day.
The blue chips were dragged lower by a 7% drop in shares of Hewlett-Packard. The PC maker reported a 3% increase in sales but warned the current quarter will be hurt by the Japanese quake impact and weak PC sales.
The S&P 500 gave back 0.49 points to 1,328.98. The Nasdaq Composite Index nipped 0.9 points to 2,783.21.
Chipmakers took a hit, with Intel shares falling 0.5% as Nvidia and AMD shares sliding 1%.
The negative HP news as well as two disappointing economic reports kept investors on edge.
Shares of raw materials and construction companies were also dragged lower, with Caterpillar, Cummins and Alcoa were down more than 2%. Commodities also retreated, with oil and silver futures down more than 1%.
Dow component Wal-Mart Stores reported quarterly income of $3.4 billion U.S. and sales of $103 billion compared with last year, topping analysts' estimates. However shares of Wal-Mart were down 1%.
Home Depot beat forecasts with earnings per share of 50 cents U.S. as sales edged lower to $16.8 billion U.S. The profit helped Home Depot shares rise 1.3%, making it one of the Dow's best performers.
Results from Dell are due after the closing bell. The company is expected to earn 43 cents U.S. per share.
Economically speaking, the Commerce Department said housing starts plunged a worse-than-expected 10.6% in April, while the Federal Reserve said industrial production was flat in April due in part to the Japanese earthquake. Economists were looking for a gain in the production numbers.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained more ground, lowering yields to 3.12% from Monday’s 3.15%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for June delivery regained 22 cents to $97.13 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for June delivery fell $8.10, or 0.5%, to $1,482.50 U.S. an ounce
