Business
Bay Street gains strength
Bay Street gains strength
About this update from Suncor Energy Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\nBay Street gains strength\n\nGold, energy lead TSX parade\n Apr. 1, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) -- Bay Street stocks extended their advance Thursday afternoon after strong manufacturing data fueled optimism of a sustained global economic recovery.\n\nThe S&P/TSX Composite Index grew 113.33 points to 12,151.06, for a jump on the week of 193.69 points or 1.6%. \n\nThe index had been treading water in the past couple of weeks, since climbing above the 12,000 level in mid-March after a gap of 17 months.\n\nCanada's biggest oil and gas company Suncor Energy gained 3.8% to close the week at $34.30. Canadian Natural Resources added 3.9% to $78.11 and Encana rose 1.2% to $31.97.\n\nAmong the shares of gold miners, Iamgold advanced 6.8% to $14.42 and Red Back Mining gained 3.4% to $21.45.\n\nMercator Minerals shed 7.5% to $2.36 after reporting a loss of $17.58 million U.S. for fiscal 2009.\n\nThe Diversified Metals Index added strength, with Equinox Minerals rising 7.6% to $4.12 and Quadra Mining up 3.7% to $16.13.\n\nResearch In Motion surrendered 8.3% to $68.98, dragging the information technology sector lower. The BlackBerry maker's quarterly earnings and revenues missed forecasts.\n\nOpen Text Corp. eased 1.3% to $47.81. Industry analyst and strategic consulting firm Branham Group ranked Open Text as the top Canadian software company for a second successive year.\n\nIn the telecom sector, BCE rose 1.7% to $30.35 and Manitoba Telecom Services gained 2.4% to $32.67.\n\nMedia production company DHX Media, which announced signing new broadcast license deals with Boomerang Latin America and Nickelodeon Australia for one of its shows, rose 5.8% at $1.45.\n\nThe Canadian dollar pushed toward parity with its American counterpart, gaining 0.67 cents to 99.15 cents U.S. \n\nON BAYSTREET \n\nAll but three of the 14 TSX subgroups were higher on the day. Gold led the festivities with a 3.5% surge, followed by energy's 3.2% flight, and a 2.9% improvement by metals and mining issues. \n\nThe TSX Venture Exchange picked up 25.99 points to 1,602.54, a jump of 42.76 points or 2.7% over the week. The Nasdaq Canada index slid, however, 35.36 points to 764.48. \n\nON WALLSTREET\n\nIn New York, The Dow and S&P 500 ended at fresh 18-month highs Thursday, but tech concerns limited the Nasdaq composite's gains ahead of a long weekend.\n\nThe Dow Jones industrial a...