Business
Energy-fueled rally
Energy-fueled rally
About this update from Teck Resources Limited Class A
[{"type":"text","content":"\nEnergy-fueled rally\n\nMarkets take cue from bank plan\n Mar. 23, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) -- 10:33 am EST\nThe March rally on stock markets reignited Monday as investors took in a mega-deal in the Canadian oilpatch and the latest plans to deal with toxic American bank assets.The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 3.8%, or 318.57 points to leap out of the gate at 8,824.92, as Suncor Energy Inc. and Petro-Canada announced a merger in an all-stock deal creating a combined company valued at $43.3 billion.The new company is to operate under the Suncor name with existing Petro-Canada shareholders holding a 40% stake in the enterprise. Suncor shares were ahead $1.70 to $32.60 while Petro-Canada soared $6.11 or 20.6% to $35.76. The TSX energy sector moved ahead as oil prices firmed above $50 U.S. a barrel advancers included EnCana Corp. up $2.92 to $54.27, and Canadian Natural Resources which advanced $3.27 to $51.94.The Toronto financial sector bounded ahead on U.S. bank-aid plan, rising 3.5% as Royal Bank gained $1.28 to $36.53 and TD Bank moved up $1.45 to $42.71The base metals sector rose 6%, s Teck Cominco Ltd. moved ahead 42 cents to $6.30.Statistics Canada's gauge of future economic activity fell 1.1% in February after a 0.9% decrease in January. The agency reported the housing and stock markets continued to post the largest declines, and manufacturing losses steepened.Accordingly, the Canadian dollar was ahead nearly a quarter of a cent to 80.95 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET Of the 13 TSX subgroups, all but one were ahead. Energy stocks were the biggest beneficiary of all the optimism, up 6.3%, followed by metals and mining stocks, up 5.7% and financials, ahead 3.7%. The gold sector was the lone holdout, tailing off 0.7%. The TSX Venture Exchange surged 4.80 to 906.60, while the Nasdaq Canada Index picked up 15.08 to 445.50. ON WALLSTREETThe Dow Jones Industrials average jumped 219.91, or 3% to 7,498.29. The S&P 500 index gained 25.13 points to 793.67, while the Nasdaq picked up 40.76 to 1,498.03. The rally takes place as the Obama administration said it plans to join an array of investors ranging from pension funds to hedge funds to buy bad bank assets.The administration said the program could grow to $1 trillion U.S. if it proves successful in attacking the bad-loans problem at the heart of the banking crisis.To free up lending, th...