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Jan. 11, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Toronto stocks opened higher on Monday, holding on to their previous session's gains on higher oil and commodity prices.
In the early moments of trading for the week, the S&P/TSX Composite Index rocketed up 88.42 points to 12,042.25.
Canadian stocks have posted gains in five of the last six sessions, gaining over 2% to hit a new 15-month high. The Index closed Friday at 11,953.83, gaining 66.32 points or 0.56%.
Energy stocks may be in play today after the price of oil moved past the $83-U.S. mark on Monday on an encouraging trade report from China, the second largest user of this energy product. Gold edged up in price.
In corporate news, C.A Bancorp advised shareholders not to tender to Maxam Acquisiton Corp's $1.22-per-share offer, before its board explore all available alternatives.
Petro-Canada, a unit of Suncor Energy and partners discovered an estimated 7 to 40 million cubic meters of oil near the Snorre field in the North Sea.
SouthGopi Energy may raise as much as $459 million in a Hong Kong share sale.
Talisman Energy Inc. announced its capital spending plans of $5.2 billion for 2010, up 10% over 2009.
TransAlta Corp. announced winning a 25-year power purchase agreement from New Brunswick Power.
Fertilizer maker Agrium said it would move into Western Canada with 33 more outlets.
Bringing an end to the takeover tussle, Brazil based Minera Penmont, said it will not take any further action regarding its proposal to acquire the outstanding common shares of Canplats Resources and has advised the Canplats board accordingly.
Since last month, Goldcorp. and Penmont have been competing to acquire Canplats.
In brokerage updates, RBC upped Niko Resources price target by 20% to $120 from $100. UBS hikes Precision Drilling Trust price target to $10.50 from $10.00.
In economic news, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said country's housing starts edged up in December. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts reached 174,500 units from 164,800 units in November.
On the other hand, Statistics Canada said overall Canadian building permits fell sharply by 4.6% in November.
The Canadian dollar gave back 0.26 cents to 96.93 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All 14 TSX subgroups were pointed upward to begin the week. Metals and mining stocks provided the lead, gaining 3%, followed by materials, up 2.4%, and gold, ahead 2.2%.
The TSX Venture Exchange shot up 19.75 points to 1,624.85, while the Nasdaq Canada index gained 1.32 points to 731.75.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks were little changed early Monday as investors mulled a report showing a jump in Chinese exports, a weaker dollar and a rise in commodities.
The Dow Jones Industrials were up 2.87 points in the early going to 10,621.06. The broader S&P 500 poked ahead 3.33 points to 1,148.31, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 0.24 points to 2,316.93.
Stocks gained slightly Friday, propelled by a tech rally, as investors shrugged off a surprisingly weak jobs report amid other recent signs that the economy appears to be stabilizing.
Investors will be waiting for Alcoa, the first of the Dow components to report fourth-quarter figures, after the market close. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the aluminum maker to report a profit of six cents U.S. a share, compared to a loss of 28 cents U.S. a share in the final quarter of 2008.
Later this week, Intel and JPMorgan Chase post quarterly figures.
Earnings of S&P 500 companies are expected to have jumped 213% in the fourth quarter of 2009, thanks to easy comparisons to the year-earlier period, the worst quarter in the history of earnings tracker Thomson Reuters.
Treasury prices gained ground, lowering yields on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.80%, from Friday's 3.83%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil moved higher by 64 cents to $83.39 U.S.
Gold prices grew $16 to $1,155 an ounce U.S.