Business
Equities tail off
Equities tail off
About this update from Verisante Technology, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\nEquities tail off\n\nIBM-Sun deal falls through\n Apr. 6, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) -- 10:19 am EST\nA short week on the markets began on the wrong foot, with markets going downward, amid the apparent collapse of IBM Corp.'s acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc.Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index tumbled 122.56 points lower in the first half-hour trading to 8,943.20The rally which started March 10, initially on good news from the American financial sector and bolstered since then by a string of positive economic data, had sent the TSX up 20% while the Dow is up about 22.5% since both hit multi-year lows on March 9. On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported a sharp drop in the value of building permits issued during February. The agency reported that the value of permits fell 15.9% to $3.7 billion in February. It said the drop was mainly due to a 30.5% plunge in the value of non-residential building permits, particularly in Ontario. The TSX energy sector fell as oil prices retreated. Suncor Inc. gave back 60 cents to $29.19 while Canadian Natural Resources moved down 61 cents to $52.90. The financial sector eased as TD Bank declined 57 cents to $45.61. The gold sector declined, as Goldcorp Inc. faded $1.70 to $36.40. The base metals sector dipped, with Sherritt International down 13 cents to $3.34. Shares in Teck Cominco Ltd. moved up five cents to $8.50 after it announced it has sold an interest in the gold production at its Andacollo mine in Chile to Royal Gold. The Vancouver-based mining giant said the deal is valued at $300 million U.S.Sources tell the Globe and Mail that the deal is one of several moves the company plans take in order to reduce its huge debt burden. It says the company will sell off more than $2 billion U.S. in asset sales, and mount a debt restructuring and a potential equity issue. Canada's largest base metals miner is struggling to reduce the enormous debt load it incurred from its top-of-the-market, $14-billion U.S. takeover of Fording Canadian Coal Trust last year. Canadian investors also took in another deal gone bad. The takeover of Allen-Vanguard Corp. by Tailwind Financial in an all-stock deal worth $41.6 million has fallen through. The Ottawa-based maker of bomb disposal equipment and other military hardware said Monday another deal to take the company private is being considered and its share...