Toronto’s stock traders took baby steps out of the gate Tuesday, in contrast to Monday’s 178-point hike, amid even cheerier news out of Europe aimed at solving the debt problems on the once-mighty continent.
The S&P TSX Composite Index opened the session ahead 40.19 points to 11,680.40
The Canadian dollar advanced 0.32 cents to 96.99 U.S. cents.
Among stocks to watch, oil whiz Nexen Inc said it would sell 40% stake in its northeast British Columbia assets for $700 million to a consortium led by Japan's Inpex Corp.
Oil and gas rival Parallel Energy Trust projected a 33-39% hike in production for 2012 and budgeted $16.5 million in capital expenditures for drilling and infrastructure.
Canfor Corp. said it will buy Canadian forest products peer Tembec Inc's southern British Columbia interior wood products assets for about $60 million.
Research In Motion is seeking to cash in as companies switch to rival smartphones with a new tool that offers some of its important security features for sexier devices like the iPhone.
Seabridge Gold Inc. said drilling at its Courageous Lake project in Canada's Northwest Territories showed significant expansion of a gold zone that could more than quadruple the zone's contribution to measured and indicated resources.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange picked up 0.80 points to 1,513.49, while the Nasdaq Canada index jumped 7.58 points to 390.82.
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups advanced soon after the opening bell, led upwards by information technology issues, ahead 1.3%, gold, up 0.5%, and energy stocks, up 0.4%.
The five laggards were weighed by global base metals and consumer discretionaries, each off 0.3%, and telecoms, fading 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks opened little changed Tuesday, as investors digested AMR Corp.'s bankruptcy and eyed developments in the euro-zone debt crisis.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 34.44 points to begin the day at 11,557.45
The S&P 500 eked higher 7.19 points, to 1,199.74, while the Nasdaq Composite hiked 9.52 to 2,535.86
Early Tuesday, American Airlines' parent company, AMR Corp., announced that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to "achieve a cost and debt structure that is industry competitive."
Shares of Companies Tiffany & Co. sank after the luxury jewelry retailer reported earnings that topped forecasts but reeled in its guidance for the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, nerves were high after Moody's warned that 87 banks across 15 of the 17 euro-zone countries could face downgrades and Italy auctioned €7.5 billion of three- and 10-year bonds that drew the highest yields in years. Borrowing costs in Italy have been above the uncomfortable 7% mark for days.
Investors are hopeful of hearing concrete details for a solution as a two-day meeting of euro-zone finance ministers gets underway Tuesday.
European leaders are working on a new plan to ensure fiscal discipline across the euro area. The proposal is expected to give the European Union greater authority over the budget policies of individual euro-zone nations
Economically speaking, the S&P/Case Shiller index, a gauge of home prices in 20 major cities, dropped 3.6% in September compared to a year ago, following a 3.8% decline in the previous month. Analysts surveyed by Briefing.com expect prices to have dropped 3.0% versus a year ago.
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index is expected to rise to 42.5 for the month of November, up from 39.8 in October.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury edged lower, pushing the yield up to 1.99% from 1.96% late Monday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil for January delivery added 71 cents to $98.92 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for December delivery slipped $2.90 to $1,707.90 U.S. an ounce.
