Jan. 6, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Bay Street is hovering in positive terrain in early morning deal Wednesday, as buying has spread across sectors, albeit modestly. The Canadian market is advancing for the third day in a row, continuing its decent runup seen since the first trading session of the year.
The main index had witnessed a triple-digit gain on Monday.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 48.03 points by midday to 11,936.11
Gold stocks are on the buyers' radar as the price of gold is rebounding. Barrick Gold is moving up 1.69% and Aurion Resources is gaining 3.15%.
Despite a marginal decline in the price of oil, energy stocks are also moving higher. Imperial Oil is adding 1.04%.
Oil and natural gas explorer Twin Butte Energy Ltd. is up 9.28% after it said that it would be divesting certain non-core assets for $13.3 million. It also revealed 2010 capital program of $38 million.
Energy explorer Niko Resources is edging up 0.63% after announcing that it will drill six wells in India this year.
Contract operator Xtreme Coil Drilling Corp. is gaining 4.01% after announcing that it would buy back up to 2.64 million common shares in the next 12 months.
Bombardier Inc. is up 0.82% after JP Morgan hiked its rating on the stock to "overweight" from "neutral".
Technology service provider Calian Technologies is up 0.97% after it announced the winning of $29 million worth from Department of National Defense.
The Canadian dollar continued its march to parity with its U.S. cousin, regaining 0.54 cents to 96.79 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 14 TSX subgroups, eight were in positive country by lunch time. Gold zoomed ahead 2.6%, while materials picked up 2.2%, and metals and mining issues added 2.1%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed by telecoms, off 0.7%, health-care and consumer staples, which slid 0.5% each.
The TSX Venture Exchange advanced 21.52 points to 1,573.20, while the Nasdaq Canada index eased back 3.42 points to 726.53.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks tiptoed higher near midday Wednesday as investors mulled reports showing signs of stabilization in the jobs market and the services sector of the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrials approached noon ahead 17.76 points, to 10,589.78. The broader S&P 500 advanced 1.33 points to 1,137.85, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq recovered 0.24 points to 2,308.93.
Stocks ended a choppy session little changed Tuesday as investors mulled a seesawing dollar and reports showing weakness in housing, strength in factory orders and a mixed picture for automakers.
That choppiness extended to Wednesday's session, as investors digested the labour market reports ahead of the big monthly jobs report due out Friday.
Economically speaking, two jobs reports were released before the market opened.
Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that 45,094 job cuts were announced in December, 10% less than November's 50,349 job cuts. That's the lowest total since December 2007, when 44,416 cuts were announced.
The ADP private nonfarm employment report for December showed an 84,000 decrease in payrolls. This was the smallest decline in jobs since March 2008.
But it was steeper than the expected decline of 75,000, according to a consensus forecast from economists surveyed by Briefing.com. In November, there was a 169,000 decrease.
The reports are preliminaries to the most closely watched jobs report, the government's December reading of nonfarm payrolls, scheduled for release on Friday.
The Institute for Supply Management's services sector index rose to 50.1 from 48.7 in the previous month. Economists thought it would rise to 50.5, on average. A reading over 50 indicates expansion in the sector.
At around 2 p.m. ET, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes from the December policy meeting, in which the bankers opted to continue to hold interest rates at historic lows near zero.
Ford Motor rallied 2% in active New York Stock Exchange trading one day after it reported strong December sales at the end of one of the worst years in memory for the automakers.
On Tuesday, Ford said U.S. sales jumped 34% in December versus a year ago and rose 50% from November. For the year, sales fell 15%. Ford's December sales were better than expected. Toyota and Honda also reported better-than-expected results.
Dow component 3M rallied 2% after Goldman Sachs upgraded it to its "conviction buy" list from a "buy" rating.
Treasury prices fell back, raising yields on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.82% from Tuesday's 3.75%. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil gained $1.14 to $82.91 U.S.
Gold prices added $15 to $1,134 an ounce U.S.
