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Feb. 26, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
The Canadian market was stuck in the mud in the morning session Friday, amid lower trading volumes, with most of the sectoral indices seesawing back and forth.
The S&P/TSX composite index moved 12 points into positive territory by midday to 11,641.51.
The Energy Index was up as Cenovus Energy Inc. rose 1.37% and Encana Corp. was up 0.38%, while Imperial Oil Ltd. shed 0.41%.
The gold Index added 0.67%, as Red Back Mining Inc., which reported net income of $109 million for the year ended December 31, 2009, added 1.87%.
Eastmain Resources Inc. which announced the completion of its private placement of two million flow-through common shares for aggregate gross proceeds of $5 million, gained 2.86%.
Among financial stocks, Bank of Montreal was up 0.76% and Toronto-Dominion Bank rose 0.81%. Bank of Nova Scotia eased 0.15%.
The Information Technology Index shed 0.41%, with MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. easing 1.28% and CGI Group Inc. losing 1.25%.
In the consumer staples sector, Maple Leaf Foods Inc. lost 0.75% and George Weston Ltd. lost 0.43%, while Saputo Inc. rose 1.65%.
Packaging products company Cascades Inc., which reported its fourth-quarter net loss widened to C$41 million from C$18 million in the prior-year quarter, shed 4.34%.
Mobile personalization company Bridgewater Systems, which reported an increase in its full-year net earnings to $11.2 million from $2.8 million in 2008, was up 2.92%.
In economic news, Statistics Canada reported the nation's fourth-quarter current account deficit narrowed to $9.8 billion from the revised $13.8 billion for the previous quarter.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.68 cents to 95 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Eight of the 14 TSX subgroups had gained ground by midday. Metals and mining stocks were 1.2% stronger, utilities and health-care issues 0.5% more robust.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed by information technology stocks, down 0.6%, industrials, off 0.5% and consumer staples, sliding 0.2%.
The TSX Venture Exchange picked up 8.68 points to 1,526.62, while the Nasdaq Canada index regained 8.68 points to 753.88.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks struggled Friday as investors took tentative steps amid a surprise drop in existing home sales, a surprise rise in GDP growth and AIG's worse-than-expected quarterly decline.
The Dow Jones industrial average had broken even and then some, 8.16 points by noon, to 10,329.19. The S&P 500 index picked up 0.93 points to 1,103.87, and the Nasdaq composite added 1.73 points to 2,235.95.
Stocks seesawed through the morning as investors considered the economic news at the end of a tough week on Wall Street. Barring a big rally in the afternoon, stocks are set to end the week lower following a steady stream of worse-than-expected economic reports.
Readings on housing, jobless claims, durable goods orders and consumer confidence have all disappointed this week.
Meanwhile, concerns about Greece's debt crisis resurfaced this week after having been tamped down for the last few weeks. Such concerns were soothed a bit Friday after Greece's prime minister said the country would take action to get control of its finances.
AIG, the financial services behemoth reported a $9-billion U.S. quarterly loss Friday, partly because of the costs connected to selling off big stakes in its insurance businesses to pay back some of the debt it owes taxpayers.
The loss was narrower than a year earlier, but bigger than what analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. AIG shares fell 6% in morning trading.
In a busy day for economic news, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index was released. Sentiment dipped to 73.6 in February from 73.7 in January, versus forecasts for a rise to 73.9.
Another report, the Chicago purchasing managers' index on regional manufacturing, rose to 62.6 in February from 61.5 in the previous month, indicating further expansion in the sector.
Economists thought the index would fall to 59.7.
Also, the government released a revision of fourth-quarter gross domestic product, which was slightly higher than expected, with an annual rate of 5.9%.
But this failed to inspire investors. Futures had recovered somewhat from the AIG-related fallout, but slipped again after the GDP report.
A consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected growth at an annual rate of 5.7%, unchanged from the first reading last month. This is compared to an increase of 2.2% in the third quarter.
Elsewhere, existing home sales for January fell to a 5.05-million-unit annual rate from a revised 5.44-million-unit rate in December, according to a National Association of Realtors report released in the morning.
Sales were expected to rise to a 5.5-million-unit rate, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
The report followed a weaker-than-expected new home sales report from the government, released earlier in the week. Both reports reflected the impact of the homebuyer tax rebates, which were initially expected to end Nov. 30 and then got extended.
The perceived end of the rebates jacked up sales in November, taking away some sales from December and January.
Treasury prices moved up, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 3.60% from 3.63% late Thursday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil regained $1.48 to $79.65 U.S.
Gold prices jumped seven dollars to $1,114 U.S.