Mar. 17, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --
12:50 pm EST
The Toronto stock market struggled to keep a rally going into a sixth session Tuesday as commodity stocks weakened.
New York markets were slightly higher a day after a four-day rally fizzled with investors taking in a dividend cut by Dow component Alcoa Inc.
Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index put on 30 points by noon hour Tuesday to 8,416.69, setting the stage for what could be a sixth straight upward session.
The financial sector remained in positive territory, adding up to a staggering gain of more than 25% over the last five days.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada said sales dropped 5.4% to $41.7 billion as motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts industries, particularly in Ontario, reported record decreases during the month.
Excluding motor vehicles and parts and accessories, manufacturing sales decreased a more moderate 1.2% compared with December.
Despite the overall market weakness, analysts said this rally could still have a good bit of momentum.
The TSX financial sector moved ahead as Bank of Montreal rose 49 cents to $32.81 while Scotiabank advanced 41 cents to $31.16.
The energy sector also rose as Talisman Energy was ahead 31 cents to $13.01 while Suncor Inc. lost 31 cents to $31.10.
The base metals sector lost with Teck Cominco Ltd. off 19 cents to $5.09 while Sherritt International improved 15 cents to $2.28.
The gold sector declined as Goldcorp Inc. faded 97 cents to $36.14.
The Canadian dollar was flat at 78.64 cents U.S.
BAYSTREET
Of the 13 TSX subgroups, seven were in negative territory. Gold was off 1.9%, metals and mining declined 1.3% and real-estate gave back 1.2%
Of the six gaining groups, energy stocks surged 0.7%, financials were up 0.5%, consumer discretionaries up 0.3%.
The TSX Venture Exchange was off a slight 0.04 points to 847.28, while the Nasdaq Canada index up 8.78 to 409.28.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrials average marched forward 39.74 points to register at 7,256.71 by lunch. The S&P 500 tacked on 7.17 points to 761.05, while the Nasdaq marched 21.50 to 1,425.52.
Shares in American aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. dropped 50 cents or 8% to $5.62 U.S. after it said late Monday that it will chop its dividend to three cents a share from 17 cents a share. The move will save Alcoa more than $400 million U.S. a year.
Tech shares led the rally attempt Tuesday morning, with Cisco Systems Intel Dell and Yahoo! among the gainers.
A number of financial stocks moved higher, including Citigroup JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs But Wells Fargo, Bank of America and other declined, leaving the influential sector only modestly higher overall.
On the economic front, investors showed little reaction to better-than-expected data about the battered housing market.
U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday new home construction rose unexpectedly to an annual rate of 583,000 in February from a revised 477,000 in January. Building permit applications, a key measure of future activity, also rose. Applications increased three per cent to an annual rate of 547,000.
The collapse of the U.S. housing market has been one of the key drivers of the ongoing recession.
Separately, a key inflation report showed wholesale prices rose 0.1% in February. The producer
price index rose 0.8% in January.
Treasury prices inched higher, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 2.94% from 2.95% Monday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The April crude contract in New York climbed $1.20 to $48.55 U.S. a barrel.
The April bullion contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down $6.10 to $915.90 U.S. an ounce.