Business
Markets lower on Portugal troubles
Markets lower on Portugal troubles
About this update from Suncor Energy Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\nMarkets lower on Portugal troubles\n\nGold loses strength on TSX\n Mar. 24, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) -- The Toronto stock market moved lower Wednesday after a downgrade of Portugal's debt pressured the euro and pushed the U.S. dollar higher, which in turn punished oil and metal prices.\n\nThe S&P/TSX Composite Index settled 81.57 points to 11,962.97. \n\nAmong energy issues, Encana Corp. dropped 67 cents to $30.82.\n\nBonavista Energy Trust units declined 38 cents to $23.80 after it said it will pay $228 million cash to Suncor Energy for natural gas properties adjacent to its Whitecourt property in Alberta. \n\nIt will fund the acquisition with a combination of equity sales and bank debt. Suncor shares were down 23 cents to $31.17.\n\nThe gold sector lost ground as Barrick Gold dropped $1.27 to $38.17 while Goldcorp Inc. fell $1.31 to $38.23.\n\nThe base metals sector stepped back with May copper down four cents to $3.34 U.S. a pound. \n\nHudBay Minerals fell 52 cents to $13.28 and Labrador Iron Mines Holdings declined 23 cents to $5.51.\n\nLosses built up in the telecom and tech sectors as Rogers Communications Inc. shed 76 cents to $34.57 while Research In Motion Ltd. moved 90 cents lower to $75.85.\n\nIn other corporate news, AGF Management Ltd. reported that its profit in the latest quarter was $30.6 million, up from $12.2 million in the comparable quarter of 2009. The mutual fund operator's profit amounted to 34 cents per share, missing analyst estimates by a penny, but its shares gained 19 cents to $18.77.\n\nTimminco Ltd. has opted to settle a debt with one of its customers by granting it a 10% stake in the concern, which produces specialty metals including solar-grade silicon. \n\nThe Toronto-based company owed about euro9.7 million ($13.3 million) to Q-Cells SE dating to last May and involving the termination of contracts scrapped in 2008. Timminco shares ran ahead nine cents to 88 cents.\n\nBombardier Transportation says it has received an order worth $474 million U.S. to provide an additional 49 regional double-deck trains to France's national railway. Its shares slipped eight cents to $5.79.\n\nThe Canadian dollar slumped 0.84 cents to 97.61 cents U.S. \n\nON BAYSTREET \n\nAll but two of the 14 TSX subgroups were lower on the day. Gold slid 3.4%, materials listed 2% lower and global base metals stocks tailed off 0.8%. \...