Mar. 4, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Bay Street stocks were seeing modest selling in mid-morning deals Thursday, with commodity stocks turning in particularly poor performances.
The S&P/TSX composite index had fallen back 33.72 points by noon to 11,819.13
Profit taking at higher levels after the main index gathered nearly 3.5% in the past three sessions also weighed. However, gains in financial stocks helped Bay Street limit losses.
The Gold Index was down, as Red Back Mining lost 3.83% and Eldorado Gold gave in 1.75%.
Yamana Gold moved down 3.82% after it reported lower net earnings of $0.26 per share for fiscal 2009, compared to $0.62 per share in the prior year.
Base metal stocks were under pressure, with Teck Resources slipping 1.63% and First Quantum Minerals surrendered 2.23%.
Among energy plays, Baytex Energy shed 1% and Imperial Oil lost 1.33%.
Meanwhile, Canadian Natural Resources added 0.67%. The company said its fourth-quarter net earnings dipped to $0.85 per share from $3.27 per share in the previous year, but upped its dividend payout by over 40% to $0.15 a share. Also it said it will subdivide its common shares on a two for one basis after necessary approvals.
On the positive side, financial stocks were edging up after TD Bank's earnings report enthused investors to lap up bank stocks. Yesterday, financial stocks were under pressure after RBC reported profits that missed consensus estimates.
TD Bank gained 1.84% after it said its first quarter income almost doubled to $1.44 per share from $0.75 in the year ago period. Before one-time items, the earnings were at $1.60 a share, widely beating the consensus estimates of $1.34 a share.
Independent full service investment banker Canaccord Financial rallied 9.07% on announcing the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Genuity Capital Markets for about $290 million, consisting of 26.5 million Canaccord common shares and $30 million in cash.
Global asset manager Brookfield Asset Management edged up 0.20% after reports said the company is planning an approximate $4 billion Australian initial public offering of its Brookfield Multiplex Australian office portfolio.
Pharmacy benefit management and healthcare solutions provider SXC Health Solutions rallied 12.55% after reporting better than estimated fourth-quarter net income of $0.49 per share, compared to $0.20 per share in the year ago period. Analysts expected the company to report earnings of $0.41 per share for the quarter.
Pharmaceuticals company Angiotech Pharmaceuticals plummeted 16.41% even after reporting a narrower fourth quarter net loss of $0.18 per share, compared to a loss of $0.90 per share in the same period last year.
Canwest Global Communication was up 5.56%. Today, the company said its President and CEO, Leonard Asper, has tendered his resignation.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said building permits unexpectedly dropped 4.9% in January from the previous month. However, it noted that this value was 32.70% higher compared to a year ago.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.16 cents to 97.12 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 14 TSX subgroups, 10 were negative by noon. Gold and materials had each shed 1.8%, while materials suffered 1.5%.
The four gainers were led by health-care issues, up 1.9%, financials, gaining 0.7%, and consumer staples picked up 0.3%.
The TSX Venture Exchange was off 9.63 points to 1,543.50, while the Nasdaq Canada index lopped off 3.47 points to 757.12.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks struggled to gain Thursday as investors welcomed a report showing the pace of job losses continues to slow, but showed some caution ahead of the February jobs report.
The Dow Jones industrial average moved up 13.90 points by midday to 10,410.66. The S&P 500 index nipped up 0.65 points to 1,119.44, and the Nasdaq composite improved a mere 0.70 points to 2,281.38.
Economically speaking, the government released its report on weekly jobless claims before the bell, showing that claims totaled 469,000 in the week ended Feb. 27, a drop of 29,000 from the revised prior week total of 498,000.
The number practically matched expectations of 470,000 claims, according to a Briefing,com consensus of economists' forecasts.
Individual retailers were releasing their February sales reports, giving investors the latest look at the health of consumer spending.
After the bell, the government is also due to issue reports on monthly factory orders and pending home sales for January. Factory orders are expected to have increased by 1.8% and pending home sales are forecast to increase by 1%, according to the Briefing.com consensus.
Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit will testify before the Congressional panel charged with overseeing the government's bank bailout.
Treasury prices turned upward, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 3.60% from Wednesday's 3.62%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil sagged 91 cents to $79.96 U.S.
Gold prices gave back $14 to $1,118 U.S.
