Apr. 6, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Canadian stocks were hovering near the unchanged line in mid-morning deals Tuesday amid fluctuating commodities prices. The S&P/TSX Composite Index still trailed yesterday's close by 5.01 points at noon to 12,181.34 Also, renewed worries over the Greece debt situation weighed on sentiment. The main index rose 4% in March amid recovery in commodities prices and on optimism over sustainability of the economic growth. Among energy stocks, Nuvista Energy gathered 3.23%. Crew Energy shed 1.73%. Oil and gas royalty trust NAL Oil and Gas Trust was down 1.70% after it said it will sell 7.55 million units at $13.25 per unit. Among base metals stocks, Inmet Mining edged up 0.42% and First Quantum Minerals lost 1.35%. Minerals explorer Copper Mountain Mining eased 2.10% after announcing plans to sell 8.2 million shares at $3.05 per share. Nickel explorer Mirabela Nickel was down 3.44%. The company said its director, Nick Poll, resigned in order to focus on new business ventures. The price of gold was gradually recovering from its early morning losses In the gold space, Agnico-Eagle Mines edged up 0.19%. Raymond James trimmed its price target on the stock to $73.70 from $76. Meanwhile, nickel miner Crowflight Minerals said it has received an offer letter from Jinchuan Group Ltd., China to acquire all of its common shares for $150 million, equating to about $0.26 per common share. The stock rallied 47.06% to $0.250. Communications services provider Sandvine Corp. gained 6.63% after it turned to profit in first quarter, reporting net income of $0.004 per share, compared to net loss of $0.035 per share last year. Natural resources explorer VMS Ventures gained 1.52% after it said it would launch a new nickel exploration company and will own approximately 45% of the new company at the completion of the two private placements. Greece worries hit the market again after a newspaper report said Greece was seeking to raise around $10 billion from the U.S. investors. In other news, the country reportedly wanting to renegotiate a deal struck last month in the EU. In economic news, Statistics Canada in its annual review released Tuesday said the country's international merchandise trade was affected by the decline of the global economy in 2009. It added that the trade balance went from a surplus of $46.9 billion in 2008 to a deficit of $4.5 billion in 2009, the first deficit since 1975. The Canadian dollar continued its push toward parity with its American counterpart, gaining 0.13 cents to 99.91 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET Eight of the 14 TSX subgroups remained negative by midday. Industrials weighed most on the laggards, dropping 0.8%, while consumer staples were down 0.5%, and energy stocks slid 0.3%. Health-care stocks led the gainers, up 0.6%, telecoms were ahead 0.3% and information technology inched ahead 0.2%. The TSX Venture Exchange advanced 3.91 points to 1,635.37, while the Nasdaq Canada index moved up 17.32 points to 779.15 ON WALLSTREET In New York, stocks seesawed Tuesday as investors remained cautious after pushing the Dow industrials to within points of 11,000, a key psychological barrier it hasn't surpassed in 18 months. The Dow Jones industrial average shaved off 9.98 points by noon to 10,963.57. The S&P 500 regained 0.35 points to 1,187.79. The Nasdaq gained 2.19 points to 2,431.72. Stocks advanced Monday following the three-day Easter weekend, with investors responding favorably to the previous week's jobs report, a strong housing market report and the launch of Apple's iPad device. But there was little on the docket early Tuesday and stocks struggled. Investors were also keeping an eye on the Treasury market, a day after the 10-year note yield surged to 4% Monday, the highest level in 18 months. Prices have been sliding and yields rising recently as investors have sought riskier assets amid bets on a bigger recovery. Oil prices surged to nearly 18-month highs Tuesday. Massey Energy shares plunged 9% after the company confirmed 25 workers were killed after an explosion at one of its coal mines in West Virginia. Federal regulators are pushing for a $16.4-million U.S. fine against Toyota Motor for deliberately hiding accelerator problems from officials for months. The fine is the maximum allowed under the law and follows the recall of more than eight million vehicles due to gas pedal and sudden acceleration problems. Toyota shares were little changed on the news. AT&T said it will invest an additional $1 billion U.S. to upgrade its business network and improve services and products for customers. Increasing broadband speed, investing more in Wi-Fi and amping up support for wireless devices. Shares were barely changed. One expert said investors will focus on a statement due later in the day from the Federal Reserve, which could raise questions about when the central bank will increase interest rates. In addition, he said investors are looking ahead to the start of the quarterly corporate reporting period, which begins next week. The minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting are due out at 2 p.m. ET. Treasury prices rallied, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 3.95% from 3.99% late Monday. The 10-year had risen as high as 4% Monday, an 18-month high. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. Treasury will offer $40 billion U.S. of three-year notes later Tuesday in the second of four auctions scheduled for this week geared toward selling $82 billion U.S. in debt. Monday's sale of $8 billion U.S. in 10-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) saw a strong response. The price of a barrel of oil gained 13 cents to $86.75 U.S. Gold prices gained four dollars to $1,138 U.S. an ounce.
