Gold weighs on TSX

Oct. 15, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --

Canadian stocks finished nominally lower on Thursday amid weakness in the gold sector. The market had gained more than 1% yesterday. Shortly before the closing bell, the S&P TSX Composite index was down 29.34 points to 11,503.44. Gold stocks have slipped as the precious metal has come off its record highs. Royal Gold lost 2.9% to $48.52, Seagold was off 2.5% to $26.64 and Eldorado stepped backwards 2.4% to $12.37. Mining stocks were down, as HudBay dropped 2.3% to $15.02 and Teck Resources fell 1.9% to $33.69. In corporate news, Keystone North America Inc rallied 20.3% to $7.76 after the company announced it has agreed to be acquired by Service Corp. International for approximately $256 million including outstanding debt. Manulife Financial tailed off 1.1% to $22.23 after the company said it acquired Pottruff & Smith Travel Insurance Brokers Inc., a broker and third party administrator of travel insurance across Canada. Vasogen added 1.8% to 28.5 cents after the company reported third-quarter net loss of $1.2 million or $0.05 per share, compared to a net loss of $2.6 million or $0.12 per share last year. Groupe Distinction gained 5% to $1.89 after the company announced third-quarter net earnings of $2.0 million or $0.064 per share compared with $1.9 million or $0.06 per share in the same quarter last year. A&W Revenue Royalties Income Fund's added 1.4% to $14.34 after the company announced its third-quarter net earnings increased to $2.698 million from $2.694 million posted in the same period a year earlier. On a per-share basis, earnings were $0.324, compared with $0.323 last year. On the economic front, Canadian manufacturing shipments fell 2.1% in August. A decline of 1.6% was forecast for August, compared to a revised increase of 5.2% in July. The Canadian dollar plummeted 0.81 cents to 96.67 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET All but three of the 14 TSX subgroups were lower. Gold was the worst off, losing 1.7%, while materials and metals and mining stocks tailed off 1% each. The three gainers were energy stocks, ahead 0.5%, consumer staples, scratching out a gain of 0.3%, and industrials, nosing up 0.1%. The TSX Venture Exchange slipped 8.30 points to 1,328.40, while the Nasdaq Canada index lost 7.13 points to 728.88. ON WALLSTREET In New York, stocks turned mixed Thursday as investors mulled better-than-expected results from Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, conflicting economic indicators and rising oil prices. Even so, the Dow Jones Industrials worked its way into positive territory, picking up 47.08 points to 10,062.94. The S&P 500 index advanced 4.53 points to 1,096.55. The Nasdaq composite index gained back 1.06 points to 2,173.29. Financials led the morning losses, but shares of energy producers rallied late in the day, with Chevron and ExxonMobil both adding more than 1%, as oil prices pushed above $77 U.S. a barrel. Strong quarterly results from JPMorgan Chase and Intel helped fuel a big advance on Wall Street Wednesday, pushing the Dow to close above 10,000 for the first time in over a year. But stronger-than-expected results from Citi and Goldman had less impact Thursday. The 10,000 number is more psychological than anything else, as it's a round number and also puts the Dow back to where it stood just after the collapse of Lehman Brothers last year. But analysts say that the just-getting-started third-quarter reporting period is what's really going to determine whether stocks keep moving higher. The early results have been good -- with roughly 75% of companies beating earnings estimates. Also, revenues have shown some stabilization. Should that trend continue, it would help assuage fears that cost-cutting is the only thing helping earnings stabilize and that little top-line growth exists. Goldman Sachs reported a $3.2-billion U.S. quarterly profit, thanks to strength in its trading business, which has recovered this year. The financial behemoth reported quarterly revenue and earnings that rose from a year ago and topped estimates. The company's chief executive said the strong quarter was due to signs of stabilization and growth across a variety of sectors. Citigroup reported a quarterly loss Thursday due to the ongoing impact of the credit crisis. But the loss was narrower than analysts had been expecting. On Wednesday, JPMorgan Chase said it earned $3.6 billion U.S. in the quarter, also due to strength in its investment business. In economic reports, the Consumer Price Index, a key inflation measure rose 0.2% in September, according to a consensus of economist opinion from Briefing.com. This is compared to the prior month, when the CPI rose 0.4%. The core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, is expected to have edged up 0.2% in September, slightly higher than the 0.1% forecast by Briefing.com. Core CPI gained 0.1% in August. The number of people filing for first-time unemployment fell to 514,000 last week, slightly better than the 520,000 expected by a consensus of economist opinion from Briefing.com. Jobless claims have now dropped five out of the previous six weeks. Two regional manufacturing reports were also released. The Philadelphia Fed index dipped to 11.5 in October from 14.1 in the previous month, versus forecasts for a smaller slide to 12.0. The Empire Manufacturing Index, which measures activity in the New York region, rose to 34.57 in October from 18.88 in September. Economists thought it would fall to 17.25 Treasury prices sank, raising the yields for the benchmark 10-year note to 3.45% from Wednesday's 3.41%. The price of a barrel of oil gained $2.40 to $77.44 U.S. Gold prices fell $14 to $1,051 U.S. an ounce.