Streak may end

Mar. 20, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --

12:40 pm EST Slight losses in the industrials sector pushed the Toronto stock market lower Friday morning as investors seemed disinclined to do much after eight wins in a row.

By noon, the S&P/TSX Composite Index had given back about 20 points to 8,670.40, however, some analysts questioned why the rally happened in the first place and held out minimal hope of the gains sticking.

On the economic front, Statistics Canada said that retail sales rose 1.9% in January to $33.7 billion after declining 5.2% in December – their largest monthly decline in more than 15 years.

Sales rose in five of eight retail sectors, led by a 3.8% increase in the automotive sector.

The TSX financial sector was down as Manulife Financial declined 29 cents to $14.44 while CIBC declined 50 cents to $45.20.

The base metals sector rose as Teck Cominco Ltd. headed up 31 cents to $6.23.

SouthGobi Energy Resources Ltd. said Friday that an announcement last year overstated the estimated resource at one of its coal projects due to erroneous information provided to it by an independent consultant.

The company, a subsidiary of Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. said the errors apply to the West Field portion of the Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine in Mongolia and don't affect the separate South-East Field and the Ovoot Tolgoi underground project. Ivanhoe shares added 21 cents to $6.52 while South Gobi shares fell 76 cents to $9.11.

The energy sector was up slightly as oil and other commodities surged Thursday on hopes the Fed scheme will blunt the effects of the recession. Suncor Inc. moved down 42 cents to $32.98.

The gold sector was down as Kinross Gold Corp. is staking a claim in the diamond business by paying $150 million U.S. for an indirect interest in the Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories and a 20% stake in Harry Winston Diamond Corp. Kinross shares edged 85 cents lower to $22.29 while Harry Winston shares soared $1.10 or 48% to $3.38.

The tech sector rose as Research in Motion Ltd. improved 74 cents to $53.

Lawyers for Nortel Networks Corp. are to appear in court on Friday to ask that eight senior executives be allowed to receive bonuses under a program that the company says is needed to boost falling morale at the company. The company wants executives to be allowed to receive a share of $23 million U.S. that has already been approved for a group of 84 employees. Its shares were unchanged at 10 cents.

The Canadian dollar was up .14 cents to 80.79 cents U.S.

ON BAYSTREET

Of the 13 TSX subgroups, seven were moving up the chain, utilities stronger by 1.4%, followed by health-care's 1.2% rise, and metals and mining, ahead 0.6%.

Of the losing groups, industrials were the worst off, 1.3%, real-estate lost 1.2% and energy stocks were 0.5% to the bad.

The TSX Venture Exchange lost 3.23 points to 900.34, while the Nasdaq Canada index subtracted 0.89 to 435.52

ON WALLSTREET

The Dow Jones Industrials average poked its head above Thursday's close 4.62 points to reach noon at 7,405.42. The S&P 500 stepped back 3.5 points to 780.54, while the Nasdaq eased 5.48 points to 1,478.00

Indexes are ending the week higher partly because of the rally ignited last week after financial services giant Citigroup and Bank of America reported they were profitable in the first two months of the year.

Investors were also energized by Wednesday's announcement from the U.S. Federal Reserve that it would pump more than $1 trillion U.S. into the economy. The plan includes buying up to $300 billion U.S. in long-term government bonds during the next six months to force down borrowing costs.

However, concern later set in that the measures could lead to some damaging consequences, including driving down the value of the dollar and sending inflation higher.

In corporate news, mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson on Friday warned it expects to post a first-quarter loss before taxes as consumer demand continues to decline.

Printer and copier maker Xerox Corp. slashed its first-quarter profit forecast by nearly 80% on restructuring costs and a slowdown in technology spending. Xerox now expects earnings per share in a range of three cents to five cents, down from its previous forecast of 16 cents to 20 cents U.S. Its shares fell 81 cents to $4.83 U.S.

Blockbuster Inc. suffered a fourth-quarter loss of $360 million U.S. to conclude another difficult year, but the struggling video rental chain has lined up critical financing to buy it more time to adapt to ever-fiercer competition from the Internet and cable services.

And Italian automaker Fiat has contradicted a statement from Chrysler's chief executive that the Italian automaker would be responsible for 35% of Chrysler's debt to the U.S. government should a proposed alliance go through. In a statement, Fiat said it "intends to make absolutely clear that the proposed alliance will not entail the assumption of any current or future indebtedness to Chrysler."

Treasury prices slipped, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 2.62% from 2.60% Thursday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The April oil contract in New York rose 28 cents to $51.89 U.S. a barrel.

The April bullion contract in New York moved down $5.80 to $953 U.S. an ounce.