Translate
Apr. 7, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Falling energy prices weighed on the Canadian stock market in mid-morning deals Wednesday. The S&P/TSX Composite Index veered toward breakeven, but was still five points short by lunch time to 12,151.71. Also, worries over the sustainability of the economic recovery in the euro zone and renewed concerns over the Greece debt situation depressed sentiment. Easing energy prices overshadowed news of over $3 billion worth of asset restructuring announced today by two oil companies. The Canadian dollar continued to test parity versus the greenback in morning deals. The Energy index slipped, with Petrobakken Energy losing 1.38% and Cenovus Energy shedding 2.14%. International oil and gas explorer Heritage Oil surrendered 8.02%. The company said today it received necessity approvals to sell its stake in two Ugandan oil fields for more than $1.35 billion. In other similar deal, oil and natural gas company Talisman Energy said it would sell a number of non-core assets in Canada for total proceeds of about $1.9 billion, through five separate transactions. The stock lost 1.85%. Oil and gas company KFG Resources plummeted 13.3% after announcing the withdrawal of its private placement of up to 30 million units at $0.065 per unit. Among financial stocks, CIBC was down 0.83% and National Bank surrendered 1.25%. Metals mining company Lundin Mining lost 2.12% after it voluntarily filed a Form 15F with the U.S. SEC to terminate the registration of its common shares. Mineral properties dealer Khan Resources lost 7.69%. The company announced that CNNC Overseas Uranium Holding, China has extended its offer to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Khan at $0.96 in cash per share. The Global Gold Index was the major gainer, gathering 1.51%. Eldorado Gold and Lihir Gold rose over 3% each. Blackberry maker Research In Motion moved up for a second session, adding 0.51%. In economic news, Statistics Canada said value of building permits edged down 0.5% to $5.7 billion in February on month-on-month, but was 56.7% higher than that of February 2009. The Canadian dollar slid 0.19 cents to 99.70 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET Of the 14 TSX subgroups, 10 were still negative by noon. Energy stocks were 1.2% less energetic, while industrials slid 0.8% and utilities were off by 0.7%. The four gainers were gold, up 2.9%, materials, ahead 1.4% and health-care, inching up 0.1%. The TSX Venture Exchange advanced 6.23 points to 1,642.02, while the Nasdaq Canada index moved up 2.26 points to 782.84 ON WALLSTREET In New York, equities fell Wednesday as investors remained cautious following the recent rally and General Motors posted a $4.3-billion U.S. loss for the second half of 2009. The Dow Jones industrial average jettisoned 40.66 points by midday to 10,929.33. The S&P 500 dumped 3.66 points to 1,185.78. The Nasdaq slid 1.68 points to 2,435.13. Trading on Wall Street was muted Tuesday, but the Nasdaq and S&P 500 edged higher to finish at 1-1/2 year highs. Shortly after the start of trade, General Motors posted a $4.3-billion U.S. loss for the July-December period of 2009, during which the company emerged from bankruptcy protection. In its annual report released Wednesday, Goldman Sachs defended employee bonuses and its multi-billion-dollar relationship with AIG while downplaying its short-selling in the mortgage market. A report on consumer credit in February is due out at 3 p.m. ET. February consumer credit is expected to have risen $1.6 billion U.S. after rising $5 billion U.S. in the previous month. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission begins a three-day hearing, focusing the causes behind the mortgage meltdown. Former Fed Chief Alan Greenspan is scheduled to testify at Wednesday's hearing. Treasury prices inched forward, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 3.94% from 3.95% late Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil skidded 32 cents to $86.52 U.S. Gold prices tacked on $16 to $1,152 U.S. an ounce.