Business
TSX on the March
TSX on the March
About this update from Hudbay Minerals Inc
[{"type":"text","content":"\nTSX on the March\n\nObama signs health-care bill\n Mar. 23, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) -- Toronto stocks held on to gains Tuesday afternoon, with financials advancing along with base metal miners and technology stocks.\n\nThe S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 77.37 points to 12,044.54. \n\nMeanwhile, the energy sector witnessed a mixed trend amid choppy oil prices.\n\nThe Financials Index gained, with BMO up 66 cents to $62.22 and Scotiabank up 77 cents to $51.47\n\nBase metal stocks have been trading with solid gains since morning, following the announcement of a $1.54-billion merger deal between Quadra Mining Ltd. and FNX Mining Company Inc.\n\nFNX Mining added 24 cents to $15.09 while shares of the latter eased 43 cents to $16.95. Hudbay Minerals Inc. rose 53 cents to $13.80. Teck Resources Ltd. gained 95 cents to $41.49. \n\nAmong energy stocks, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. inched up seven cents to $72.63 and Nexen Inc. gave in eight cents to $24.15, while Encana Corp. rose 38 cents to $31.48. \n\nIn economic news, Statistics Canada said the country's leading indicators rose 0.8% in February after a 0.7% advance in January. Economists were expecting the leading composite index to rise 0.9%. The growth was largely led by household demand, with the housing index accelerating to 1.7% growth.\n\nThe Canadian dollar took more steps toward parity with its American cousin, gaining 0.32 cents to 98.45 cents U.S. \n\nON BAYSTREET \n\nAll but one of the 14 TSX subgroups were positive on the day. Metals and mining stocks charged ahead 2.3%, followed by global base metals, up 2.2%, and information technology, gaining 1.5%. \n\nOnly gold's 0.2% slide put a damper on the party. \n\nThe TSX Venture Exchange gained 6.77 points to 1,561.36. The Nasdaq Canada index gained 14.25 points to 809.10. \n\nON WALLSTREET\n\nIn New York, stocks rallied Tuesday, with the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 hitting new 18-month highs following the release of a better-than-expected existing home sales report.\n\nThe Dow Jones industrial average hurtled forward 102.94 points to finish at 10,888.83. \n\nThe S&P 500 index was up 8.36 points to 1,174.17, while the tech-rich Nasdaq marched 19.84 points to 2,415.24. \n\nStocks initially struggled out of the gate Tuesday but turned higher following the release of the housing report, which showed existing home sales fell in Febr...