Stocks uncertain at open

Gold, materials higher

Dec. 9, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --

Canadian stocks looked to turn into positive territory on Wednesday for a first time in five sessions as a weaker U.S. dollar boosted commodities. In the first half-hour of trading, however, the S&P/TSX Composite faltered 30.14 points, to 11,338.78. Crude oil has added strength as traders await the Energy Information Administration's weekly inventory data. Meanwhile, gold has edged up in price and copper is down 2.75 cents to $3.181 U.S. per pound. In corporate news, First Quantum Minerals Ltd. said it agreed to acquire the Ravensthorpe Nickel Operation in Western Australia from BHP Billiton for $340 million U.S. EnCana Corp. said its board has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 U.S. cents per share payable on December 31, 2009 to common shareholders of record as of December 21. Cameco Corp. said a syndicate of underwriters agreed to purchase about 88.62 million common shares of Centerra Gold from Cameco on a bought deal basis at $10.25 per share. Xenos Group reported that its revenues for the fourth quarter increased 19% to $4.52 million from $3.80 million in the prior-year quarter. Evertz Technologies Ltd. reported net earnings for the second quarter of $17.5 million or $0.23 per share, lower than $34.1 million or $0.46 per share in the same quarter a year ago. The Canadian dollar regained 0.16 cents to 94.17 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET All but two of the 14 TSX subgroups were in negative territory at the session's start. Telecoms were down 1.2%, while financials gained 1.1% and consumer discretionaries scaled back 0.9%. The two gaining groups were gold, shooting up 1.8% and materials, advancing 1.2%. The TSX Venture Exchange regained 8.30 points to 1,410.54, while the Nasdaq Canada index was up 3.77 points to 676.98. ON WALLSTREET In New York, equities fell at Wednesday's open as investors were cautious about the global economy and health care reform. The Dow Jones Industrials gave back 25.17 points in the first half-hour of trading to 10,260.80, while the S&P 500 faded 4.48 points to 1,087.46, while the Nasdaq fell 13.43 points to 2,159.06. Stocks fell sharply Tuesday as investors eyed weak global markets, a rising dollar, falling oil and gold prices and some weak corporate results. Dave Rovelli, managing director at Canaccord Adams, said, prior to the open, that markets were being driven by politicians "finally agreeing to a health care bill" and President Obama's plan to advance another job stimulus program. Rovelli said these two factors were "taking a little bit of uncertainty out of the market." Liberal and moderate Democrats reached "broad agreement" on the public option portion of the Senate health care bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said late Tuesday. Two Democratic sources said the deal would, among other things, replace the public option by creating a not-for-profit private insurance option similar to the one available to federal workers, and would allow people 55 and older to buy into Medicare coverage currently available to those 65 and older The stock price for health insurance companies MetLife, WellPoint, Cigna and UnitedHealth Group all rose, moving in the opposite direction of the stock market. Economically speaking, government figures due at 10 a.m. ET were expected to show wholesale inventories fell 0.5% in October after a 0.8% decline the month before. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago opens a two-day conference on the nation's foreclosure policy. On Capitol Hill, the Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on creating jobs, while a subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee will hear testimony on the Madoff scandal. Treasury prices inched higher, dropping yields to 3.37% from Tuesday's 3.39%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil recovered 43 cents to 73.05 cents U.S. Gold prices were still off four dollars to $1,140 an ounce U.S.