Business
TSX regains ground
TSX regains ground
About this update from Athabasca Oil Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"\nTSX regains ground\n\nStaples, IT weigh on market\n Apr. 8, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) -- Canadian stocks continued to slip from their 18-month high for a third session in mid-morning deals Thursday amid widespread selling.\n\nThe S&P/TSX Composite Index greeted noon way up from its lows of the day, but still behind 43.07 points to 12,067.83. The main index had settled above the 12,000-mark in the past seven sessions.\n\nRenewed concerns over the Greece debt situation, retreating commodities prices and a discouraging weekly jobs data from across the border weighed on sentiment and prompted traders to book profits. \n\nMeanwhile today, CIBC upped its first-quarter economic growth estimates by a percentage point to 5.1% and said the country's central bank will raise its key interest rate by July. \n\nBase metals stocks were under pressure, with Teck Resources down 2.09% and Inmet Mining slipped 1.75%. \n\nIn the energy space, Suncor Energy lost 1.19% and Encana Corp. was down 1.40%.\n\nNewly listed oil explorer Athabasca Oil Sands eased 2.22%. The company raised $1.35 billion in Canada's biggest initial public offering since 1999.\n\nAmong gold stocks, Centerra Gold lost 9.42%. The company today confirmed that operations at its Kumtor mine, in the Kyrgyz Republic, continue uninterrupted and are currently unaffected by the unrest in the country. BMO reduced its rating on the stock to "Market Perform" from "Outperform"\n\nIamgold was down 1.40%.\n\nFinancial stocks were also under pressure, with Scotiabank (BNS.TO) and RBC losing nearly 1% each\n\nShoppers Drug Mart plummeted 9.59% after the company said it would have to restructure dramatically under a plan by the Ontario government to cut the price of generic medications to 25% of the equivalent brand-name drug, from 50%. RBC trimmed the price target on the stock to $48 from $52.\n\nRetail stores operator Loblaw Companies was down 2.38%. The company said it will repurchase of up to 13.86 million of common shares, by way of a normal course issuer bid.\n\nOn the positive side, dollar store operator Dollarama Inc. gained 5.90%. The company reported improved fourth-quarter net earnings at $0.45 per share, compared to $0.15 per share in the year-ago period. For the full year, the company reported earnings of $1.37 per share compared to a loss of $0.36 in the previous yea...