TSX stays solid

BOC decision drives dollar

Apr. 20, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --

Canadian stocks were hovering in the green in mid-morning deals Tuesday amid buying across a variety of sectors. The S&P/TSX Composite Index approached noon ahead 42.79 points to 12,415.76 Encouraging quarterly earnings reports by major banks from south of the border and the Bank of Canada's decision to leave interest rates at a record low helped lift sentiment. Today, the central bank announced that it is maintaining its target for the overnight rate at a record low of 0.25%. The bank rate was left unchanged at 0.5% and the deposit rate at 0.25%. The bank now projects that the economy will grow by 3.7% in 2010 before slowing to 3.1% in 2011 and 1.9% in 2012. In the energy space, Petrobakken Energy gathered 2.42% and Suncor Energy was up 1.41%. Meanwhile, oil and gas company Provident Energy Trust eased 1.14% after it said it will combine its upstream business with Midnight Oil Exploration in a $460-million transaction. Midnight Oil rallied 8.57%. Among base metals stocks, First Quantum Minerals gained 2.56%. Teck Resources rose 1.11% ahead of its quarterly earnings report due out after the market close. Close on the heels of consensus beating earnings reports from JP Morgan, Bank of America and Citibank, Goldman Sachs reported first quarter net earnings of $5.59 per share. Analysts were expecting the company to record earnings of $4.01 per share this quarter. Scotiabank was up 0.65% and RBC gained 0.46%. Wood pulp maker Tembec rallied 13.33%. The company announced that its European subsidiary, Tembec SAS has signed a share purchase agreement with Paper Excellence B.V for the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Tembec Saint-Gaudens SAS and Tembec Tarascon SAS. Tembec will record a gain of about $23 million in its financial results for the quarter ending June 2010. Fertilizer maker Potash Corp. added 1.73% after Soleil Securities Corp upped its rating on the stock to "Hold" from "Sell", based on valuations. IMAX Corp. gained 4.80% after announcing a new joint venture agreement with Tokyu Recreation to install five digital IMAX theater systems in Japan. In the gold space, Barrick Gold lost 0.73% and Lihir Gold shed 0.50%. Among information technology stocks, blackberry maker Research In Motion was down 1.05%. Insurance company Kingsway Financial Services eased 0.78%. The company said it added 3.9% of stake in Kingsway Linked Return of Capital Trust taking its total stake to about 26.72% Logistics software solutions provider Descartes Systems Group edged down 0.80% after announcing that it acquired privately-held Ontario Inc., doing business as Imanet, a provider of enterprise and on-demand technology solutions. The Canadian dollar climbed back beyond parity with its American cousin, adding 1.57 cents to $1.0013 U.S. ON BAYSTREET Of the 14 TSX subgroups, eight gained ground by lunchtime. Energy stocks led the parade, up 1.1%, while metals and mining issues picked up 1%, and consumer staples gained 0.7%. Health-care weighed most heavily on the half-dozen losing groups, taking off 1%, while gold tailed off 0.8%, global base metals slid 0.7%. The TSX Venture Exchange picked up 1.55 points to 1,655.51, while the Nasdaq Canada index advanced 14.31 points to 798.48. ON WALLSTREET In New York, stocks inched higher Tuesday as investors looked past Goldman Sachs' fraud case and focused on its strong quarterly earnings. The Dow Jones industrial average remained positive by 22.82 points at midday to 11,114.87 The S&P 500 index gained 7.37 points to 1,204.89. The Nasdaq composite index moved up 12.02 points to 2,492.13. Better-than-expected reports from Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson and others also bolstered stocks. But investors took a "sell-the-news" approach to IBM's improved results released late Monday, as weakness in that stock dragged on the Dow. IBM is the Dow's most heavily weighted component. Stocks ended mostly higher Monday after a choppy trading day as optimism over Citigroup's strong profit report was offset by worries about the fallout from the SEC's fraud suit against Goldman Sachs. Shares of Goldman Sachs fell 1% after gaining in pre-market trading. The bank reported first-quarter profit of $3.5 billion U.S. Tuesday, delivering a much-needed shot to the firm's ailing reputation as it faces questions over its role in structuring a security tied to subprime mortgages. On a per-share basis, Goldman earned $5.59 U.S. per share. Consensus estimates were for the company to record a profit of $2.4 billion U.S., or $4.01 U.S. per share, according to Thomson Reuters. But investors and analysts will most likely focus on the civil fraud suit brought against by the company last week by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fraud suit has weighed on Wall Street, although reports saying regulators were split on the decision to bring charges against Goldman helped lift investor sentiment. IBM posted higher quarterly sales and earnings that topped estimates late Monday. The company also boosted its full-year 2010 earnings forecast. But shares fell 2.8% in morning trading. Apple and Yahoo are due to report their latest financial results after U.S. markets close. Prices for U.S. Treasurys inched down, with the yield on the 10-year note moving back up to Monday's 3.81%. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions The price of a barrel of oil gained $1.81 to $83.26 U.S. Gold prices gained four dollars to $1,140 U.S. an ounce.