TSX inches down

Feb. 26, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --

Toronto's main index continued to oscillate within a thin range in the afternoon session, with the sentiment remaining sluggish in the absence of cues from Wall Street. The S&P/TSX composite index listed downward 1.81 points to close the week and month 11,629.63. Indices of energy, gold and financial sectors were relatively flat. Soon before the close, Niko Resources Ltd. had risen 0.42% to an even $100.00 and Petrobakken Energy Ltd. added 1.2% at $28.10. Canadian Western Bank gained 1.1% to $20.79 while Bank of Nova Scotia was down 0.5% to $47.75 and TMX Group Inc. eased 0.2% to $28.95. The Information Technology Index was down, as Open Text Corp. added 0.6% to $51.11, Celestica Inc. lost 1.3% to $10.77 and CGI Group Inc. eased 2.4% to $14.85. In economic news, Statistics Canada reported the nation's fourth-quarter current account deficit narrowed to $9.8 billion from the revised $13.8 billion for the previous quarter. The Canadian dollar gained 0.72 cents to 95.05 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET The 14 TSX subgroups were evenly split between gainers and losers. Metals and mining issues were again the leaders among the prospering groups, adding 1%, followed by real-estate stocks, up 0.7%, and telecoms, ahead 0.5%. The seven laggards were weighed mostly by consumer discretionary stocks, down 0.6%, industrials and information technology, each off 0.5%. The TSX Venture Exchange picked up 13.25 points to 1,531.19, while the Nasdaq Canada index regained 8.71 points to 753.86. ON WALLSTREET In New York, stocks struggled to rise Friday as investors were cautious after a surprise drop in existing home sales, a surprise rise in GDP growth and AIG's worse-than-expected quarterly decline. The Dow Jones industrial average ended the week at 10,329.19, up 4.23 points on the day. The S&P 500 index picked up 1.55 points to 1,104.49, and the Nasdaq composite added 4.04 points to 2,238.26. Stocks seesawed through the morning as investors considered the economic news at the end of a tough week on Wall Street. Equities were set to end the week lower following a steady stream of worse-than-expected economic reports. Readings on housing, jobless claims, durable goods orders and consumer confidence have all disappointed this week. Meanwhile, concerns about Greece's debt crisis resurfaced this week after having been tamped down for the last few weeks. Such concerns were soothed a bit Friday after Greece's prime minister said the country would take action to get control of its finances. AIG, the financial services behemoth, reported a $9-billion U.S. quarterly loss Friday, partly because of the costs connected to selling off big stakes in its insurance businesses to pay back some of the debt it owes taxpayers. The loss was narrower than a year earlier, but bigger than what analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. AIG shares fell 9%. In a busy day for economic news, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index was released. Sentiment dipped to 73.6 in February from 73.7 in January, versus forecasts for a rise to 73.9. Another report, the Chicago purchasing managers' index on regional manufacturing, rose to 62.6 in February from 61.5 in the previous month, indicating further expansion in the sector. Economists thought the index would fall to 59.7. Also, the government released a revision of fourth-quarter gross domestic product, which was slightly higher than expected, with an annual rate of 5.9%. But this failed to inspire investors. Futures had recovered somewhat from the AIG-related fallout, but slipped again after the GDP report. A consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected growth at an annual rate of 5.7%, unchanged from the first reading last month. This is compared to an increase of 2.2% in the third quarter. Elsewhere, existing home sales for January fell to a 5.05-million-unit annual rate from a revised 5.44-million-unit rate in December, according to a National Association of Realtors report released in the morning. Sales were expected to rise to a 5.5-million-unit rate, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com. The report followed a weaker-than-expected new home sales report from the government, released earlier in the week. Both reports reflected the impact of the homebuyer tax rebates, which were initially expected to end Nov. 30 and then got extended. The perceived end of the rebates jacked up sales in November, taking away some sales from December and January. Treasury prices moved up, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 3.61% from 3.63% late Thursday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil regained $1.62 to $79.79 U.S. Gold prices jumped $10 to $1,119 U.S.