Feb. 16, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Bay Street stocks moved up for a fifth session in mid-morning deals Tuesday, supported by gains in energy, financial and base metal stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index approached noon ahead 90.25 points to 11,560.06. Markets took Monday off for Family Day.
Strong manufacturing numbers from both sides of the border, released earlier today, also aided the sentiment. Moreover, investors appeared to have brushed aside worries over the euro zone after European leaders insisted Greece to slash spending and wages savagely to contain its deficit.
Among financial plays, Canadian Imperial Bank rose 1.20% and Bank of Montreal added 0.74%.
Manulife Financial Corp. snapped its two-day losing streak, gaining 0.42%. Last week, the company reported fourth-quarter net income of $0.51 per share, compared to a loss of $1.24 in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, Sun Life Financial moved down for a third day, erasing 0.46%. Thursday, the company announced that its fourth-quarter profits more than doubled to $0.52 per share from $0.23 per share in the year ago quarter.
The Energy Index rose along with the price of oil. PetroBank Energy surged 4.26%. Canadian Natural Resources edged up 1.26%.
Energy company Nexen Inc. edged up 1.26% after it said it will sell its subsidiary, Nexen Energy Marketing London Ltd to Nomura Holdings Inc. for $55 million.
In the base metals sector, Major Drilling and Teck Resources surged over 4% each.
Among gold plays, Eldorado Gold gathered 3.68% and Rand Gold was up 2.85%.
Gold and precious metals explorer Orvana Minerals eased 0.95%. Friday the company reported first-quarter net income of $0.01 per share, compared to a profit of $0.03 per share in the prior-year quarter.
Silver miner Pan American Silver added 2.12% after reporting fourth-quarter net income of $0.31 per share, compared to a loss of $0.41 per share in the same period last year.
Mineral explorer Soltoro Ltd. added 2.70%. Friday the company announced the completion of a non-brokered private placement of 6.71 million units at $0.35 per unit for total gross proceeds of $2.35 million.
Uranium and gold explorer First Uranium shed 2.10% after the company slipped to loss, reporting third-quarter consolidated loss of $0.09 compared with a profit of $0.01 a year ago.
School bus transportation services provider Student Transportation edged up 1.09% after reporting second quarter profit of $0.02 per share, compared to a net loss of $0.22 per share in the same period last year.
Research In Motion surrendered 3.41%. The company said it has introduced BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express -- free new server software, which provides economical advantages to small and mid-sized businesses.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said today that the country's factory sales increased 1.6% to $43 billion in December, mainly helped by a 4.4% rise in motor vehicle sales.
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.58 cents to 95.90 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but three of the 14 TSX subgroups were higher. Metals and mining stocks led the pack, ahead 2.2%, global base metals and materials were next at 1.9% each.
Information technology stocks were the worst off of the three laggards, falling 1.1%, health-care was next at 0.6% and telecoms were down 0.4%.
The TSX Venture Exchange hiked 19.05 points to 1,517.80, while the Nasdaq Canada index skidded 3.61 points to 752.20
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks rallied Tuesday near midday as investors welcomed Merck's better-than-expected quarterly results and the weaker dollar boosted commodity prices and shares.
The Dow Jones industrial average rocketed up 120.92 points, or 1.2% to 10,220.06. The S&P 500 index boosted itself 13.86 points to 1,089.37, and the Nasdaq composite gained 22.13 points to 2,205.66.
U.S. markets were closed Monday for Presidents Day.
Wall Street managed gains last week, after four down sessions, but the advance was tepid amid worries about China's plans to curb lending and the threat of Greece's debt crisis spreading.
Those worries were set aside Tuesday as investors focused on some of the stocks that were hit in the recent selloff.
Between rally highs hit on Jan. 19 and the lows of early February, the S&P 500 fell more than 9% and the Dow and Nasdaq lost more than 7%.
A handful of influential companies report results this week, although the bulk of the reporting period has already passed.
Two Dow companies released results Tuesday morning.
Merck reported higher quarterly revenue that beat estimates on higher earnings that were in line with analysts' estimates. The drug maker said it won't issue 2010 guidance until April. Shares gained 1%.
Kraft Foods reported higher quarterly earnings that topped estimates on higher quarterly revenue that missed analysts' estimates.
The food maker said the sale of its frozen pizza business to Nestle will cut five cents U.S. per share from earnings annually, but its recent buy of British chocolate maker Cadbury will speed up long-term growth. Kraft shares fell 1.5%.
With 379 companies, or 76%, of the S&P 500 having reported, fourth-quarter earnings are on track to have risen 208% from a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters. Revenues are set to rise 8%. Stripping out the buoyant financial sector, earnings are set to rise 16% and revenues 3%.
Treasury prices faded a bit, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.70%, from 3.69% late Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil leaped $2.97 to $77.10 U.S.
Gold prices galloped ahead $27 to $1,117 U.S.
