Business
TSX stumbles by noon
TSX stumbles by noon
About this update from First Quantum Minerals Ltd.
[{"type":"text","content":"\nTSX stumbles by noon\n\nGold, materials falter\n Feb. 22, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) -- Toronto's main index suffered modest losses in mid-morning deals Monday, as traders booked some profits following a long winning streak. The market looked for direction in the absence of any major economic releases from either side of the border.\n\nAs the clock approached noon, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 57.93 points, to 11,651.36.\n\nThe Financials Index lost ground with Royal Bank of Canada down 0.60% and Canadian Western Bank down 0.34%. IGM Financial Inc. gained 0.72%.\n\nThe Gold Index was down, as Barrick Gold Corp. shed 1.80% and Goldcorp Inc. lost 0.77%. Dundee Precious Metals Inc. plunged 5.19% after the miner said it plans to sell 20 million of its common shares to a syndicate of underwriters led by GMP Securities LP for aggregate gross proceeds of $66 million. \n\nIn the energy sector, Imperial Oil Ltd. gained 0.25% while Encana Corp. was down 0.69%. \n\nAmong technology stocks, Research In Motion Ltd. lost 1.92% and CGI Group Inc. eased 0.33%. \n\nOpen Text Corp. which announced plans to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Nstein Technologies Inc. in a transaction valued at approximately $35 million, rose 2.03%. \n\nThe Diversified Metals Index was up, as First Quantum Minerals Ltd. rose 2.27% and Teck Resources Ltd. added 0.60%, while Major Drilling Group International Inc. was down 1.77%. \n\nLundin Mining Corp. gained 0.68% after the base metals miner in its mineral reserve and resource estimates reported record ore tonnages at two of its mines.\n\nThe Canadian dollar slid 0.36 cents to 95.90 cents U.S. \n\nON BAYSTREET \n\nOf the 14 TSX subgroups, nine were down by lunchtime. Gold was 1.3% less lustrous, followed by materials stocks, off 0.9% and energy, down 0.6%. \n\nAmong the five gainers, telecoms, utilities and metals and mining stocks all gained a marginal 0.3%. \n\nThe TSX Venture Exchange stumbled 0.51 points to 1,531.39, while the Nasdaq Canada index lost 13.71 points to 742.55.\n\nON WALLSTREET\n\nIn New York, stocks churned early Monday as investors welcomed Schlumberger and Smith International's merger announcement and Lowe's better-than-expected quarterly results, but showed caution after a two-week advance.\n\nThe Dow Jones industrial average backpedaled 11.94 points by midday to 10,3...