TSX goes south

Mar. 22, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --

Bay Street stocks may continue to shed gains Monday morning on renewed worries over Greece debt-situation and amid falling commodities prices. The S&P/TSX Composite Index began the day and week behind 63.48 points to 11,884.50. Friday's inflation data also raised speculation that the Bank of Canada might hike rates sooner than expected. A surprise interest rate hike by India late Friday, after two years, also fanned the speculation. Energy stocks may be in play on falling oil prices. Earlier in the European market, Royal Dutch Shell shed over 1% after agreeing to buy Arrow Energy fro $3.2 billion from PetroChina. Health-care stocks may also be in focus after the U.S. House of Representatives voted late on Sunday to enact a package of health reforms. Merchant banking company Pinetree Capital announced that it acquired ownership of 1.5 million common shares and 1.5 million common share purchase warrants of Kirrin Resources Inc. Gold mining company Mundoro Capital posted full-year net loss of $0.12 per share, wider than $0.03 per share in the prior year period. Gold exploring company Nevada Exploration said that its Board has approved the steps necessary to amalgamate with its subsidiary 2107189 Ontario Inc. Renewable energy products company Cleanfield Alternative Energy announced on Friday that it completed non-brokered private placement of $230,000. Bio pharmaceutical company Helix BioPharma said it has achieved last-patient-out in its Phase II trial of Topical Interferon Alpha-2b for the treatment of ano-genital warts. Mineral explorer Bolero Resources has entered into an option agreement to acquire 100% interest in the Carbonatite Syndicate Rare Earth Claim Group, surrounding Spectrum Mining Corporation's recently reported "Wicheeda" rare earth discovery. With no major economic news on tap today, movements in the prices of commodities will likely to guide trading in the resource heavy Bay Street. The Canadian dollar was down 0.49 cents to 97.81 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET The 14 TSX subgroups were split between gainers and losers. Health-care led the former group, picking up 0.8%, followed by real-estate, up 0.4%, and information technology, ahead 0.3%. The laggards were weighed mostly by metals and mining stocks, off 1.5%, while materials and energy stocks slid 1% each. The TSX Venture Exchange retreated 13.58 points to 1,550.48. The Nasdaq Canada index stepped back 5.58 points to 780.64 ON WALLSTREET In New York, stocks were poised to open significantly lower Monday following the House vote to approve health-care reform. The Dow Jones industrial average moved 7.40 points lower at the outset to 10,734.58. The S&P 500 index was down 2.28 to 1,157.62, while the tech-rich Nasdaq was 0.02 points, to 2,374.39. Late Sunday, the House approved a $940-billion U.S. health care reform package that will, among other things, require all Americans to have insurance and prevent insurers from denying coverage based on gender or pre-existing conditions. President Obama will sign the measure, which was passed in December by the Senate, into law. Shares of health insurers Cigna, Aetna, MetLife, Humana, UnitedHealth, and WellPoint were all slightly lower in pre-market trading. But other factors could weigh on stocks besides health care, including the ongoing concern about Greek debt, following reports that Germany may not support European Union efforts to help resolve the crisis. Stocks snapped an eight-session winning streak Friday as a strong dollar dragged on commodity prices, giving investors a reason to step back from the recent run up. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite had soared to 18-month highs in the previous session. In the late afternoon, the Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on a financial reform bill proposed by Sen. Christopher Dodd. Google is reportedly close to revealing plans to end some of its operations in China as early as Monday. Following a cyber attack on Gmail accounts that was launched in China, Google announced in January that it was no longer willing to operate its Chinese search engine, google.cn, under Chinese censorship laws. The company has been negotiating with the Chinese government to find a solution. The price of the benchmark 10-year note gained slightly, lowering its yield to 3.67% from Friday's 3.69%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil subsided $1.49 to $79.19 U.S. Gold prices dropped $10 to $1,098 U.S.