Apr. 1, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Toronto's main index rose to a new 18-month high in mid morning deals Thursday, with gains among resource stocks drive by rising commodities prices. The S&P/TSX Composite Index approached noon up 86.86 points to 12,124.59 A relatively encouraging prelude to Friday's U.S. non-farm payrolls report and a better-than-expected ISM reading from across the border helped lift hopes for a global economic recovery. Commodities stocks were in the limelight, with the gauges of energy, gold and base metals stocks gaining over 2% each. Among base metals stocks, FNX Mining gained 4.64% and Quadra Mining rose 3.67%. Inmet Mining surged 3.12%. In the gold space, Lihir Gold rallied 27.63% after it announced Thursday that it has rejected a A$9.20-billion takeover bid by rival gold producer Newcrest Mining. Iamgold moved up 4.37%. Gold miner Barrick Gold acquired an additional 25% interest in the Cerro Casale Project in Chile from Kinross Gold Corporation for $474 million and now owns a 75% interest in and gains control of the project. The stock added 1.36%. Mineral explorer Lake Shore Gold was up 1.59% after it said it will sell its 50% ownership interest in the Ti-pa-haa-kaa-ning Joint Venture to Northern Superior. Diamond miner and retailer Harry Winston Diamond edged up 1.40% after reporting a narrower fourth quarter net loss of $0.04 per share, compared to a loss of $1.19 per share in the same period last year. Among energy plays, oil and gas company Canadian Natural Resources rose 3.30% after announcing that it will buy-back up to 2.5% of its outstanding shares in the next 12 months. Petrobakken Energy gained 6.22%. Wireless communications company BCE Inc. edged up 0.40% The company said Wednesday that it will purchase for cancellation four million of its common shares pursuant to a private agreement with an arm's-length third-party seller. Meanwhile, oil fields services provider Forbes Energy Services plummeted 10.34% after reporting a wider fourth quarter net loss of $0.10 per share, compared to a net loss of $0.04 per share in the prior year quarter. Renewable energy company Ram Power, eased 0.34% after slipping into the red, posting fourth-quarter net loss of $0.15 per share, compared with a net income of $0.01 per share in the same quarter last year. IT stocks were also under pressure, with Research In Motion surrendering 5.57%.The company reported fourth-quarter net income of $1.27 per share up from $0.90 per share in the year ago period. However, the numbers missed analysts' expectations for a net profit of $1.28 per share. For the forthcoming quarter, the company guided earnings per share to be in the range of $1.31-$1.38. Goldman Sachs trimmed its rating on the stock to "Sell" from "Neutral". Bombardier Inc. erased 3.69% after reporting lower net income of $0.10 per share in the fourth quarter, compared to $0.17 in the same quarter last year. The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.025 per share. Among financial stocks, TD Bank gave in 0.86% and Scotiabank lost 0.35%. The Canadian dollar pushed toward parity with its American counterpart, gaining 0.78 cents to 99.26 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET All but four of the 14 TSX subgroups were higher by midday. Energy stocks gushed 2.7%, while gold shone 2.6% brighter, and the metals and mining group grew 2.3%. The four laggards were weighed by information technology, down 1.6%, while health-care stocks were 0.3% to the bad, and industrials were off 0.2%. The TSX Venture Exchange picked up 15.35 points to 1,591.90. The Nasdaq Canada index gave back 24.36 points to 775.42. ON WALLSTREET In New York, stocks marched solidly higher on Thursday, with oil and other commodities rallying, after data at home and from overseas offered more evidence that the global economic recovery is accelerating. The Dow Jones industrial average shot 73.46 points higher by noon to 10,930.09. The S&P 500 tacked on 9.25 points to 1,178.68. The Nasdaq grew 10.70 points to 2,408.66. Economically speaking, the Institute for Supply Management reported the country's manufacturing sector expanded for an eighth straight month in March, with its index of activity rising to 59.6%, topping expectations. Elsewhere, the number of Americans filing for unemployment insurance for the first time fell last week, matching the lowest level since August 2008, the Labor Department said. There were 439,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended March 27, down 6,000 from an upwardly revised 445,000 the previous week. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected new claims to dip to 440,000 in the week. Separately, a report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. showed that planned job cuts accelerated in March. Employers announced plans to cut 67,611 jobs in March, Challenger said. That's up 61% from February, when 42,090 jobs were lost, the lowest level in nearly four years. February construction spending from the Census Bureau is due out after the start of trading. Spending is expected to have fallen 1% after falling 0.6% in January. The price of the benchmark 10-year note sagged, thus raising the yield to 3.87% from Wednesday's 3.83%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil gained $1.19 to $84.95 U.S. Gold prices soared $14 to $1,125 U.S. an ounce.
