The Toronto stock market was little changed Thursday as investors balanced disappointment with two U.S. economic reports with successful bond auctions in Italy and Spain.
The S&P/TSX Composite made its way into positive territory 13.38 points by the closing bell to 12,274.32
The Canadian dollar eked forward 0.08 cents to 98.20 cents U.S.
The TSX energy sector lost early momentum and settled back by the close, with Canadian Natural Resources climbing nine cents to $38.40.
The base metals sector climbed as metal prices also ran up sharply with March copper up 12 cents to $3.66 U.S. a pound. Copper has surged about 5% this week on trade data from China that suggested authorities could be ready to ease lending requirements to encourage growth.
HudBay Minerals gained 21 cents to $10.56. Teck Resources moved ahead 71 cents to $40.06.
The gold sector was ahead as Barrick Gold Corp. dropped a penny to $49.73, while rival Goldcorp tacked on 74 cents to $46.84.
Financials also supported the Toronto market as Royal Bank rose 17 cents to $52.78, while TD grew 87 cents to $77.87.
The consumer discretionary sector was the leading decliner. Shaw Communications Inc. said first-quarter profits rose to $202 million or 43 cents a share. Revenues grew 19%, helped by higher prices in its cable division but its shares struggled to make it back to the breakeven point of $24.50.
In other corporate news, Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd. said chief executive officer Richard Gusella is leaving the company barely a week after a big shakeup in its executive offices.
Gusella had taken on the additional responsibilities last week of president and interim chief operating officer, filling the roles after two executives departed. Its shares added nine cents to $1.02.
Rio Tinto Alcan has renewed and expanded an IT infrastructure services contract with CGI Group Inc. for three years in an agreement valued at $60 million. CGI shares fell 37 cents to $18.34.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported this morning that the New Housing Price Index rose 0.3% in November, following a 0.2% jump in October.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange picked up 9.38 points to 1,540.50, while the Nasdaq Canada index gained 5.70 points to 397.88
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups ended the day higher, led by global base metals and their cousins in the metals and mining sector, each up 1.7%, while industrials surged 1.1%
The four gainers were weighed mostly by energy issues, down 1%, utilities, trailing 0.5%, and health-care, 0.3% less robust.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, equities gained only slightly Thursday, as investors grew wary about the health of the U.S. economy following the release of weak economic reports.
The Dow Jones Industrials added 21.57 points to finish Thursday at 12,471.
The S&P 500 gave back 3.02 points to 1,295.50, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 13.94 points to 2,724.50
Two weeks into 2012, all three indexes have gained more than 1%, after ending the year roughly flat.
Shares of Sears Holdings fell 6% after a Bloomberg report that CIT Group is halting loans to the retailers' suppliers.
Other retailers including Williams-Sonoma and Big 5 Sporting Goods dropped more than 10%.
Energy stocks moved down, with Exxon Mobil falling slightly and Chevron down 2%.
Reports on retail sales and initial jobless claims came in worse than expected, causing investors to reassess the appetite of the U.S. consumer and whether the job market is actually picking up steam.
The mix of positive news from Europe and lackluster performance of the U.S. economy is an inversion of what's been driving markets for the past several months. Investors have mostly been digesting better-than-expected reports on the health of the U.S. economy while seeing reasons to fear Europe's sovereign debt crisis.
During Spain and Italy's debt auctions early Thursday, both nations successfully raised more funds than expected and at lower borrowing rates than they paid a month ago.
Investors had been demanding higher interest rates, stoking concerns about the governments' solvency. Both Italy and Spain need to refinance billions of euros of debt this year.
The European Central Bank held rates steady at 1% on Thursday. E.C.B. President Mario Draghi, expected to signal a prolonged period of low interest rates in the future, wouldn't make any commitments during a press conference following the rate announcement.
On the economic front, initial unemployment claims for the week ended Jan. 7 totaled 399,000, the U.S. government reported, worse than expected. Claims were forecasted to come in at 375,000, according to analysts surveyed by Briefing.com.
Meanwhile, retail sales in December rose 0.1%. They were expected to have increased by 0.4%.
Treasury prices for the 10-year note fell, pushing yields up to 1.93% from Wednesday’s 1.90%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for February delivery dipped $2.05 to $98.82 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery gained $8.10 to $1,647.70 U.S. an ounce.
