Make it six in a row

Mar. 17, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --

04:30 pm EST The buying momentum on the Toronto stock market continued for a sixth day today, with gains led by a sharp rise in oil stocks as crude approached the $50-U.S.-a-barrel level.

New York markets revived after a shaky start and moved higher as investors bought financial and homebuilder stocks following a surprisingly upbeat report on housing starts.

Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index gained 167.31 points to close at 8,554.02, putting the exclamation mark on a sixth straight upward session.

The financial sector remained in positive territory, adding up to a staggering gain of more than 25% over the last five days.

Economically speaking, Statistics Canada said sales dropped 5.4% to $41.7 billion as motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts industries, particularly in Ontario, reported record decreases during the month.

Excluding motor vehicles and parts and accessories, manufacturing sales decreased a more moderate 1.2% compared with December.

Despite the overall market weakness, analysts said this rally could still have a good bit of momentum.

The TSX financial sector moved ahead as Bank of Montreal rose 48 cents to $32.80 while Scotiabank advanced 55 cents to $31.30.

The energy sector rose as EnCana Corp. gained 90 cents to $50.95 while Canadian Natural Resources headed $1.67 higher to $49.36.

The base metals sector lost ground with Teck Cominco Ltd. off eight cents to $5.20 while Sherritt International jumped 34 cents to $2.47.

The gold sector was down as Goldcorp Inc. faded 84 cents to $36.27.

Telus Corp. shares rose 57 cents to $33.66 as it announced it will spend $500 million from its 2009 capital budget to advance wireless and wireline broadband infrastructure in British Columbia.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan has extended 940 temporary layoff notices to workers at its three largest mines. Its shares rose $1.23 to $97.65.

The Canadian dollar was ahead 0.17 cents at 78.81 cents U.S.

BAYSTREET

Of the 13 TSX subgroups, all but two were in positive territory. Energy gushed ahead 3.5%, followed by financials, 1.8% richer, and utilities, 1.6% brighter.

The two subgroups that avoided the party were gold, 1.8% off, and materials, a solid percentage point down.

The TSX Venture Exchange gained 5.80 points to 853.12, while the Nasdaq Canada index shot up 20 to 421.00.

ON WALLSTREET

The Dow Jones Industrials average strengthened 178.73 points to close at 7,395.70. The much-broader S&P 500 tacked on 24.22 points to 778.11, while the tech-laden Nasdaq prospered 58.09 to 1,462.11.

On the economic front, investors showed little reaction to better-than-expected data about the battered housing market.

U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday new home construction rose unexpectedly to an annual rate of 583,000 in February from a revised 477,000 in January. Building permit applications, a key measure of future activity, also rose. Applications increased three per cent to an annual rate of 547,000.

The collapse of the U.S. housing market has been one of the key drivers of the ongoing recession.

Separately, a key inflation report showed wholesale prices rose 0.1% in February. The producer price index rose 0.8% in January.

Shares in American aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. dropped 56 cents or 9% to $5.56 U.S. after it said late Monday that it will chop its dividend to three cents a share from 17 cents a share. The move will save Alcoa more than $400 million U.S. a year.

As in Canada, financial stocks gained, including Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo.

Tech shares gained as well, including Cisco Systems, Intel, Dell, Microsoft and Yahoo!

Caterpillar said it is laying off over 2,400 more employees at five plants in Illinois, Indiana and Georgia so as to save costs amid the economic slowdown. Shares of the Dow component were little changed.

Treasury prices inched lower, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.00% from 2.95% Monday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The April crude contract in New York climbed $1.86 to $49.21 U.S. a barrel.

The April bullion contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down $5.20 to $916.80 U.S. an ounce