Business
TSX flies high
TSX flies high
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[{"type":"text","content":"\nTSX flies high\n\nCiti gives markets another boost\n Mar. 11, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) -- 12:25 pm EST\nThe financial sector led the way to a second session of impressive gains on the Toronto stock market Wednesday.New York markets also built on a strong advance that followed news that American financial services giant Citigroup Inc. was operating at a profit for the first two months of this year.Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index was still ahead by noon, 133.27 points to 8,013.68, after rising 313 points or 4% on Tuesday, its biggest gain this year.Analysts say that Tuesday's rally was also fed by short covering, which occurs when investors need to buy stock to replace shares that were borrowed and then sold on expectations of a market decline.Investors also took in comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that the Obama administration will unveil the government's plan for dealing with banks' toxic assets within the next couple of weeks.During an interview aired Tuesday night on "The Charlie Rose Show," Geithner said the plan the administration has put together will provide financing to private investors who are willing to buy banks' bad assets. He predicted the plan will succeed but will take time to work.The TSX financial sector had another surge as Manulife Financial edged up 81 cents to $11.69 and Royal Bank climbed $1.04 to $33.98.Bank of Montreal rose 74 cents to $30.45 as it announced a preferred share issue worth $150 million to $225 million paying 6.5% annually. BMO had previously bulked up its capital in December with a $1-billion issue of common shares and $450 million in 99-year notes that pay 10.2% interest and qualify as Tier 1 capital.The energy sector rose despite the release of a report from the U.S. Department of Energy showing that crude supplies in the U.S. climbed unexpectedly by 700,000 barrels last week against an expected drop of one million barrels.The gold sector was up as Goldcorp Inc. climbed $1.54 to $35.53.Base metal stocks also made headway with Teck Cominco Ltd. ahead 58 cents to $4.67 and FNX Mining rising 32 cents to $3.95.Bombardier Inc. shares jumped 29 cents to $2.88 after it said Wednesday it had finalized an agreement to build 30 of its CS100 jets at a price of $1.5 billion U.S. for Germany's Deutsch Lufthansa AG.Shares in travel operator Transat A.T. Inc. fell 35 c...