Roundup: Canadian stock market reports minor gains as Wall Street remains closed for Hurricane Sandy
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E-mail Xinhua, October 30, 2012
The Canadian stock market rose slightly Monday, while the U.S. stock markets was closed for the day and would remain so Tuesday as Hurricane Sandy bears down on the American East Coast.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 12.45 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,312.75, while the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index lost 9.41 points, or 0.72 percent, to 1,291.43.
Among the most influential gainers on the quiet trading day, shares of information technology firm, MacDonald, Dettwiler & Associates soared by 10.46 percent to 55.43 Canadian dollars apiece, after its recent acquisition of space manufacturing firm, Space Systems/Loral Inc., was approved by the Federal Trade Commission.
Energy stocks were up, with oil producer Nexen Inc. shares increase by 5.4 percent to 24.53 Canadian dollars apiece. Imperial Oil climbed 1.45 percent to 44.84 Canadian dollars a share.
Gold also fared well, with Barrick Gold Corp going up by 1.23 percent to 39.6 Canadian dollars per share, while its competitor, Goldcorp, was up 2.1 percent to 44.65 Canadian dollars per share. Other gold miners, Kinross Gold, rose 1.56 percent to 9.77 Canadian dollars a share, while Yamana Gold increased by 0.64 percent to 18.76 Canadian dollars a share.
Mining sector sustained a setback, with Teck Resources dropping 0.84 percent to 30.78 Canadian dollars per share. Lundin Mining went down by 1.15 percent to 5.15 Canadian dollars a share. First Quantum Minerals lost 1.69 percent to 22.15 Canadian dollars per share.
Financials retreated slightly, with Royal Bank of Canada losing 0.84 percent to 56.35 Canadian dollars per share. The country's second largest bank, TD Bank, fell by 0.6 percent to 80.68 Canadian dollars per share. Bank of Montreal, one of Canada's Big Five banks, decreased by 0.28 percent to 59.57 Canadian dollars a sahre.
In corporate news, Malaysian state oil company Petronas said Monday it had extended the deadline for its takeover bid of oil producer Progress Energy Resources to Nov.30, as the firm pushes to overturn an earlier rejection of the proposal by the Canadian government. Progress Energy shares jumped 7.9 percent to 19.82 Canadian dollars a share.
Canada's largest pipeline company TransCanada Corp. is forming a partnership with privately-held energy producer, Phoenix Energy, to construct a 3-billion Canadian dollars pipeline project in the prairie province of Alberta. The pipeline will help transport and service the emerging oil sands production north of the province. TransCanada rose 0.56 percent to 44.65 Canadian dollars per share.
On the economic front, the Canadian government said on Monday that lower commodity prices were reducing its revenues, but predicted it is still on track to eliminate its budget deficit. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the country's nominal gross domestic product (GDP), including inflation, will be 21 billion Canadian dollars lower than expected for this year and 29 billion Canadian dollars lower for 2013 and 2014.
Elsewhere, the government's Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) forecast a rise in the country's unemployment rate from 7.4 percent to 7.6 percent next year. The PBO also said growth in GDP will drop from 1.9 percent this year to 1.5 percent next year, placing overall economic growth for the second half of this year at an annual rate of 1.6 percent, well below Bank of Canada's 2.2 percent projection.
On currency front, the Canadian dollar dropped to its lowest in weeks, trading at 0.9992 U.S. dollar at closing, 5 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) Monday, compared with 1.0020 U.S. dollar Friday. Endi
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