Toronto's main stock index opened slightly higher on Monday after Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit ratings of nine euro-zone countries late on Friday, raising concerns the region might find it more difficult to borrow funds and drag on global growth.
Soon after the opening bell, the S&P TSX Composite Index collected 13.51 points to 12,244.57
The Canadian dollar rose 0.49 cents to 98.10 cents U.S., a day before the Bank of Canada makes its next announcement on interest rates. The central bank is widely expected to keep its key rate at 1%.
Among Canadian stocks to watch this morning, Iamgold Corp. said its quarterly gold production fell 20%, but flagged a near doubling in capital spending for 2012.
Oil and natural gas whiz Pembina Pipeline said it will buy Provident Energy for about $3.24 billion in an all-stock deal that will expand its reach in natural gas liquids distribution.
Quadra FNX Mining Ltd. said its 2011 copper production fell slightly, hurt by mill maintenance issues at its Robinson mine in Nevada
Anaconda Mining Inc. cited a big foreign exchange reversal as a major reason for posting a second-quarter net loss. The Toronto-based gold miner with producing operations in Newfoundland posted a net loss of $790,000 or four cents per share in the three months ended Nov. 30.
Comparative figures for the same prior-year period were not provided.
Analysts said the S&P downgrades, officially announced Friday after markets closed, had been widely expected, especially in the bond markets.
There was very little shock at S&P's announcement to strip France of its treasured triple-A rating and to cut its view on a raft of other euro countries, including Italy. One bright spot was that Germany, Europe's biggest economy, retained its triple-A rating and had its outlook upgraded to stable from negative.
Also, on Monday, rival ratings agency Moody's says it is maintaining France's top-tier AAA credit rating for now with the outlook stable. S&P rates France's outlook as negative.
A bigger headache for markets at the moment is whether Greece can clinch a deal with its creditors. Last October, Greece's partners in the euro-zone sanctioned a deal whereby Greece's creditors agreed on a deal to reduce the value of their Greek debt holdings so that the country's debt burden is reduced.
The deal with private investors, known as the Private Sector Involvement, or PSI, aims to reduce Greece's debt by $100 billion by swapping private creditors' bonds for new ones with a lower value. It is a key part of a $130-billion international bailout, the second one for Greece.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported this morning that November new motor vehicle sales dipped 1.0% to 137,640 units, partially offsetting gains registered in September and October. Sales fell for both trucks and passenger cars.
Oil faded in price 19 cents to $99.62 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $12.30 to $1,643.10 U.S. an ounce.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gave back 5.05 points to 1,536.34, while the Nasdaq Canada index skidded 5.05 points to 392.83
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were up to begin the day and week. Health-care stocks were 0.6% more robust, utilities improved 0.5% and information technology progressed 0.3%.
The four laggards were weighed by industrials and global base metal stocks, each group down 0.3%, while financials faltered 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. markets were closed for the Martin Luther King Day holiday.
