Mar. 1, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Buoyed by the encouraging quarterly GDP numbers released today, Canadian investors lapped up stocks across a variety of sectors in mid-morning deals Monday.
The S&P/TSX composite index climbed 91.03 points by noon to 11,720.66.
Also a jump in RBC's Canadian Consumer Outlook Index helped improve sentiment.
Meanwhile, copper rose to its five-week high after a massive earthquake hampered production in Chile
Among energy plays, Pacific Rubiales rose 2.57% and Canadian Natural Resources added 1.55%. Encana Corp was up 2.75%.
Integrated oil company Talisman Energy rose 1.09% after it signed an agreement with San Leon Energy of Poland to jointly develop the San Leon's gas shale assets in Poland.
Ivanhoe Mines edged up 0.83%. Global mining company Rio Tinto said it will hike its stake in Ivanhoe Mines by 2.7% to 22.4% by pumping in as much as $233 million.
Potash Corp gathered 0.87%. Earlier today, U.S.-based Intrepid Potash said that its fourth-quarter earnings plummeted 70% on pricing.
Financial stocks attracted buyers amid mixed news from the major financial companies. National Bank of Canada gained 1.29% and Royal Bank of Canada moved up 0.93%.
In economic news, Statistics Canada reported that the country's Gross Domestic Product expanded at a 5% annualized rate in the fourth quarter 2009. This could put pressure on the policy maker to hike interest rates. Notably, Bank of Canada is scheduled to decide on interest rates tomorrow.
In a separate release, the agency said the Industrial Product Price Index rose 0.3% and the Raw Material Price Index was up 3.3%.
Meanwhile, according to a survey by the Royal Bank of Canada released earlier today Canadian Consumer Outlook Index rose to 109 in February from 106 in January. The index, bench marked as of November 2009, has hit its highest level this month.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.86 cents to 95.87 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but two of the 14 TSX subgroups headed higher early Monday. Utilities was the biggest gainer by lunchtime, tacking on 1.7%, followed by industrials, ahead 1.1% and telecoms, gaining 1%.
Health-care stocks were down 0.2%, gold, off 0.1%.
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 4.09 points to 1,527.10, while the Nasdaq Canada index gained 4.74 points to 758.60.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks jumped Friday morning as investors welcomed AIG's $35-billion U.S. asset sale and news that a Greek bailout package is in the works.
The Dow Jones industrial average moved higher 71.80 points to 10,397.06. The S&P 500 index picked up 8.97 points to 1,113.46, and the Nasdaq composite added 28.44 points to 2,266.70.
Stocks ended lower Friday and for the week, following two weeks of gains. But the mood was more positive Monday as investors considered the AIG news and the latest readings on the economy.
AIG said Monday that it was selling its Asian life insurance business to Britain's Prudential PLC in a deal worth $35.5 billion U.S. The deal includes $25 billion U.S. in cash, $16 billion of which the company has earmarked to pay back the government and taxpayers.
Troubled AIG has avoided collapse by borrowing about $132 billion U.S. from the government since 2008.
On Friday, the company reported a fourth-quarter loss of $8.9 billion U.S., due mostly to costs connected to selling off large stakes in its insurance businesses.
Shares gained 10% Monday morning.
Investors have plenty of economic data to mull over on Monday.
The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index fell to 56.5 in February from 58.4 in January, surprising economists who thought it would only fall to 58. Any reading over 50 signifies expansion in the sector.
Construction spending declined 0.6% in January after falling 1.2% in the previous month, the government reported. The drop was in line with estimates.
Personal income rose 0.1% in January after gaining 0.3% in December. Economists expected income to rise 0.4%. Personal spending jumped 0.5% after rising 0.3% in the previous month. Economists thought spending would rise 0.4%.
Treasury prices were static, keeping the yield on the 10-year note to 3.61% posted late Friday.
The price of a barrel of oil added 23 cents to $79.89 U.S.
Gold prices slipped a dollar to $1,118 U.S.
