Mar. 11, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
The Toronto stock market was little changed late Thursday morning as tech stocks provided lift and commodity stocks recovered from early declines sparked by higher Chinese inflation data.
The S&P/TSX composite index approached noon up 8.58 points to 11,969.64, after floundering in the red much of the morning.
The tech sector rose with Research In Motion Ltd. ahead $1.50 to $78.54.
The base metal sector found a slight foothold on positive territory with May copper unchanged at $3.37 U.S. a pound.
There was relatively little reaction to a government report that China's annual inflation rate jumped to 2.7% in February from 1.5% in January.
Investors have been dismayed twice so far this year after China made moves to cool the economy by tightening banks' reserve requirements in order to rein in lending. They are worried that such tightening could restrain economic growth not just in China, but around the world.
Such worry is overdone, according to some experts.
Declines on the Toronto stock market were led by the telecom sector after the component advanced sharply in the previous session. BCE Inc.shed 60 cents to $30.70.
Financials were also weak as Scotiabank gave back 30 cents to $48.82.
Scotiabank and its Thai affiliate, Thanachart Bank, have reached an agreement to acquire nearly 48% of Thailand's Siam City Bank from the country's Central Bank. The deal is worth a reported $984 million. Scotiabank owns 49% of Thanachart.
The energy sector was down, even as investors also took in major deal-making in the sector.
BP PLC is partnering with Devon Energy Corp. to develop an Alberta oilsands project as part of a much larger deal in which BP will pay $7 billion U.S. to buy exploration rights in several countries from the American company. BP will sell a 50% stake in its Kirby leases for $500 million U.S. to Oklahoma-based Devon, which already has an oilsands project in the same area.
And Paramount Energy Trust has signed a deal to acquire oil and natural gas assets in the Edson area of west central Alberta from an unidentified company for $126 million. The trust will help pay for the deal with a $50-million offering of trust units. Paramount units fell 15 cents to $4.90.
Gold stocks were slightly ahead, as Barrick Gold Corp. gained 31 cents to $39.98.
Kinross Gold Corp. is offering to buy the rest of Underworld Resources Inc. in a stock-and-cash deal worth $2.62 per share. The transaction values the fully-diluted share capital of Underworld at $139.2 million and Kinross shares declined 19 cents to $18.35.
Gold Wheaton Gold Corp. has reported full-year net income of $2.3 million, or two cents per share, reversing a loss of $5.4 million or 12 cents per share in 2008. Its revenue from the sale of precious metals quadrupled to $62.6 million. Its shares lost two cents to $2.80.
In other earnings news, Montreal-based travel company Transat A.T. Inc. reported a $13.9-million net loss last quarter. That was less red ink than a year earlier but more than analysts expected.
Revenue was down by nearly 10% but one analyst said the real problem was that costs hadn't fallen as much as anticipated. Transat tumbled $5.25 or 27% to $14.25.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said the country's trade surplus was wider than expected in January at $799 million compared to $75 million in December. It also said merchandise exports in the country grew 0.5% in January.
The Canadian dollar was flat at 97.45 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 14 TSX subgroups, eight were lower by midday. Telecoms were the worst off, dropping 0.6%, followed by consumer staples, down 0.4%, while global base metals slid 0.2%.
The half-dozen gainers were led by gold and information technology stocks, each advancing 0.4% and health-care stocks, ahead 0.3%.
The TSX Venture Exchange nosed ahead 0.04 points to 1,556.84, while the Nasdaq Canada index recovered 12.86 points to 813.96.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks inched lower Thursday morning as investors weighed a drop in weekly jobless claims, a narrower-than-expected U.S. deficit and sliding commodity prices.
The Dow Jones industrial average remained down 9.37 points by noon to 10,557.96. The S&P 500 index faded 1.36 points to 1,144.25, and the Nasdaq composite backpedaled 3.34 points to 2,355.61.
U.S. stocks have been lackluster this week as investors stepped back to mull what direction markets are headed. On Wednesday, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq managed to carve out modest gains.
Analysts have been saying that the markets will continue to drift in a narrow range. "There are no buyers to get us over the next hump," said David Rovelli, managing director of U.S. equity trading at Canaccord Adams, on Wednesday.
Economically speaking, the Labor Department reported that weekly jobless claims fell to 462,000 in the week ended March 6.
The number of new unemployment filers was expected to have fallen to 460,000, according to a consensus of economist forecasts from Briefing.com.
But the number of people filing continuing claims rose to 4,558,000 in the week ended Feb. 27, the most recent data available. That was up 37,000 from the preceding week's upwardly revised 4,521,000 claims.
Also, the Census Bureau reported that the trade gap narrowed to $37.3 billion in January, from the revised figure of $39.9 billion the prior month.
This was significantly less than expected. The bureau was forecast to report that the January trade gap widened to $41 billion U.S. from $40.2 billion U.S. in December.
A report on foreclosure rates showed an increase on a year-over-year basis but the pace slowed.
Foreclosures were up 6% in February from a year earlier, marking the smallest jump since RealtyTrac began calculating year-over-year increases in January 2006.
Treasury prices slipped, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.74% from 3.72% late Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil lopped off 20 cents to $81.89 U.S.
Gold prices tacked on two dollars at $1,110 U.S.
