TSX surges

Dec. 1, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --

Toronto stocks moved notably higher on Tuesday as gold continued to add to its record highs. The rise easily erased some recently-seen weakness. The S&P/TSX Composite Index approached noon ahead 244.72 points, or 2.1%, at 11,691.92 Gold stocks have gained and materials are also up as the metal has challenged $1,200 U.S. per ounce on the Comex. Seagold has rallied 7.8%, Barrick is up 6% and Iamgold has gained 5.2%. Mining stocks are up as copper has rallied toward $3.20 U.S. a pound. HudBay is up 2.9%, First Quantum has added 2.3% and Teck Resources is up 1.6%. In corporate news, Enerflex Systems has gained 2.6% after its board recommended rejecting a takeover offer from Toromont Industries. Toromont has added 0.25%. EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering has added 3.1% after the company said it now expects net earnings for the first quarter to be $0.00 to $0.01 U.S. per share. Rutter rallied 11.5% after the company reported net earnings for the fourth quarter of $310,000, compared to a loss of $18.40 million in the previous-year quarter. Canadian Pacific has added 2.1% after the company said it will make a $500-million voluntary payment to its pension plan as rival Canadian National Railway deals with a strike. The Canadian dollar gained 1.20 to 95.91 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET All 14 TSX subgroups were positive to begin the day and the month. Gold leaped 5.1%, followed by materials, up 4.6% and metals and mining, picking up 3.2%. The TSX Venture Exchange gained 26.13 points by noon to 1,441.19, while the Nasdaq Canada advanced 18.16 points to 664.57. ON WALLSTREET In New York, stocks rallied Tuesday as worries about Dubai's debt problems dissipated, housing and construction spending reports topped forecasts, and GE and Comcast moved closer to a deal on NBC Universal. Investors also kept an eye on gold, which crossed the $1,200-an-ounce mark for the first time. The Dow Jones Industrials picked up 134.30 points, or 1.3% by midday, to 10,479.14. The S&P 500 index gained 13.88 points to 1,109.51, while the Nasdaq zoomed up 33.42 points to 2,178.02. Dubai World, the city-state's main investment arm, said it is in talks to restructure $26 billion U.S. in debt, cooling worries that it might go into default and wipe out the investment of its creditors. Global markets slumped last week after the Dubai government asked to defer payments for at least six months on $60 billion U.S. in debt owed by Dubai World and Nakheel, its real estate arm. AIG said it is wiping out $25 billion U.S. of its government debt by selling stakes in two of its life insurance subsidiaries to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Shares gained 7%. General Electric has reportedly reached a deal to buy Vivendi SA's 20% stake in NBC Universal for about $5.8 billion, moving GE closer to its goal of partnering with Comcast to create one of the largest U.S. media companies. GE is looking to sell a 51% stake in NBC Universal to Comcast, while retaining a 49% stake in the company that is valued at around $30 billion. Economically speaking, the November manufacturing index from the Institute for Supply Management fell to 53.6 from 55.7 in October, surprising economists who were looking for ISM to fall to 55. However, any reading over 50 implies expansion in the sector. Signed contracts to buy homes rose 3.7% in October, the ninth monthly increase in a row, according to a National Association of Realtors report released Tuesday. Pending home sales were expected to have fallen 1% after rising 6% previously. Elsewhere, construction spending in October was unchanged, the government reported. Spending fell 1.6% in September and was expected to have fallen 0.5% in October, according to analysts' estimates. Reports on auto and truck sales for the month of November are due later in the day. President Obama is due to announce his strategy on Afghanistan in a speech Tuesday night from West Point. Treasury prices dove, boosting the yields on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.24% from Monday's 3.19%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil gained $1.40 to $78.70 U.S. Gold prices added another $18 to $1,201 U.S., the first time it had traded over the $1,200 mark.