Canadian equities gained ground Monday, finding support from broad strength among commodities and upbeat economic data, but shares of Research In Motion Ltd. ranked among Toronto’s decliners after the company announced that its co-CEOs were stepping down.
The S&P TSX Composite Index ended Monday up 124.60 points, or 1%, to 12,521.70
The Canadian dollar picked up 0.69 to 99.27 cents U.S.
Shares of Talisman Energy Inc. gained 3.5% to $12.50 and Nexen Inc. climbed 3.4% to $18.40 as oil futures prices rallied by 1.3%.
Fueled by a buyout agreement, shares of Vancouver-based Minefinders Corp. gathered 21.9% to $14.02
Gold and silver futures both climbed 0.9% Monday. Shares of Kinross Gold Corp. climbed 3.6% to $10.73 in Toronto, while rival Goldcorp. lost a penny to $45.61, and Barrick Gold garnered 1.6% to $47.28
A rebound in natural gas futures, which rose 7.8% Monday, has also supported energy producers, with sector bellweather EnCana Corp. gaining 7.7% to $19.05. Rival Imperial Oil jumped 1.7% to $48.01.
In Toronto, shares of Research In Motion Ltd. sank 9.3% to $15.63 after the smartphone maker announced the departure of co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie and said they would be replaced in the post by Chief Operating Officer Thorsten Heins.
But strength in the metals miners and explorers and energy producer have enabled the Canadian stock market to "more than offset a big drop in Research In Motion," according to one expert.
On matters economic, Statistics Canada reported this morning that its composite leading index increased 0.8% in December, following a 0.9% gain the previous month, with eight of the 10 components rising.
Manufacturing increased across the board for the second consecutive month, with autos providing a substantial boost, and retail sales of durable goods increased for a sixth straight month.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 17.57 points to 1,588.91, while the Nasdaq Canada index retreated 11.60 points to 395.98.
All but two of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher Monday. Energy gushed 2.1%, while financials were richer by 1.4% and materials gained 0.9%.
The pair of laggards proved to be information technology, plunging 3%, and health-care issues, off 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks turned lower Monday as investors grew jittery amid uncertainty surrounding Greek debt talks.
The Dow Jones Industrials got to within sight of the breakeven point before Monday’s close, but fell short 11.66 points to 12,708.80.
The S&P 500 squeezed 0.62 points higher to 1,316, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 2.53 points to 2,784.17.
Few major companies were slated to report quarterly results Monday, and with no major economic reports, all three major indexes drifted on either side of breakeven for much of the day.
Oil and gas companies were among the biggest gainers, after Chesapeake Energy announced it would cut natural gas production to drive up prices.
Chesapeake Energy, Cabot Oil and Gas, NRG Energy and Consol Energy all gained more than 4%.
Southwestern Energy added more than 8%.
BlackBerry maker Research in Motion announced co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis will hand over the top job to former chief operating officer Thorsten Heins. After rising more than 3% in premarket trading, the stock was down 6%, dragging on the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Shares of Carnival, which owns the grounded Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia, slumped 0.2%. Carnival's stock has dropped nearly 8% since the Jan. 13 accident.
Oilfield services giant Halliburton released quarterly results that beat Wall Street estimates on both earnings and revenue, but its shares edged 3% lower.
Economically speaking, the Federal Reserve starts a two-day meeting on Tuesday, and for the first time ever, the central bank will release forward-looking forecasts for the federal funds rate. The government also releases its first estimate of fourth-quarter economic growth on Friday.
Treasury prices for the 10-year note eased, pushing yields up to 2.07% from Friday’s 2.03%.
Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions, and fall in bond prices typically indicates that investors are willing to take on more risk, rather than buying up seemingly safe U.S. Treasuries.
Oil for February delivery jumped $1.55 to $99.88 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery rose $14.30 to $1,678.30 U.S. an ounce.
