Apr. 12, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Canadian stocks were hovering in the positive territory in mid-morning deals Monday, amid modest buying across the sectors. The recently announced EUR-30-billion bailout package for Greece helped lift sentiment. The S&P/TSX Composite Index approached noon ahead 24.18 points to 12,201.02 Also, recovery in the price of oil and news of China Petroleum's $4 billion bid for a stake in Canada's oil sands gave support to oil stocks. China Petroleum and Chemical Corp will invest $4 billion in oil sands producer Syncrude Canada Ltd by buying the 9% stake held by ConocoPhillips. Financial stocks were in focus after UBS AG reported $2.4 billion pretax profit for the first quarter, the highest quarterly profits in almost three years. Scotiabank was up 0.85% and CIBC rose 0.65%. In the gold space, Kinross Gold gathered 0.91% and Goldcorp moved up 1.49%. Lake Shore Gold moved up 4.19% after RBC initiated coverage of the stock with an "Outperform" rating. Among energy plays, Suncor Energy edged up 0.14% to $35.51. Raymond James reduced its price target on the stock to $41 from $43. Oil and gas explorer Ithaca Energy gathered 4.09% after it swung to profit in 2009, reporting net income of $0.05 per share versus a loss of $0.23 per share in the year-ago period. Looking ahead for 2010, the company aims to produce an average of 5,100 barrels of oil per day, as against 4,042 barrels a day in 2009. Oil and gas industry services provider High Arctic Energy Services moved up 3.57%. The company said it will be issuing nearly 170 million shares in settlement of outstanding debt to various creditors. Liquid bulk storage and transporter World Point Terminals rallied 14.41% after it said it will acquire World Point Holdings, Inc. Meanwhile, Telus eased 0.56%. The company said it plans to invest up to $250 million to expand its broadband services this year. Yellow Pages Income Fund slipped 1.99% after RBC trimmed its rating on the stock to a "Sector perform" from an "Outperform." In economic news, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said the seasonally annual rate of housing starts dipped by 1.5% to 197,000 units in March, after having gained in the past two months. The Canadian dollar regained 0.19 cents to 99.80 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET All but four of the 14 TSX subgroups were positive by midday. Health-care stocks again led the parade, picking up 1%. Consumer staples were 0.8% stronger, and materials advanced 0.8%. The four laggards were weighed mostly by industrials and consumer discretionary stocks, off 0.2% each, while telecoms shaved off 0.1%. The TSX Venture Exchange put on 6.59 points by noon to 1,687.16, while the Nasdaq Canada index moved 4.09 points into the green to 784.01. ON WALLSTREET In New York, equities struggled to move higher Monday morning, with the Dow industrials topping 11,000, as investors welcomed European leaders' efforts to help ease Greece's debt problems. But lingering concerns ahead of the start of the quarterly reporting period limited the gains. The Dow Jones industrial average stayed afloat 20.18 points by midday to 11,017.53 The S&P 500 was up 2.57 points to 1,196.94, while the tech-rich Nasdaq added 2.62 points to 2,456.67. U.S. stocks rose to multi-month highs Friday amid restored economic confidence. The blue-chip Dow briefly touched 11,000, but closed slightly below that milestone. Nations that use the euro are prepared to offer loans at below-market interest rates to Greece if it should need a lifeline. The finance ministers of the euro zone pledged to commit up to $40 billion U.S. in loans to Greece if it were to request a bailout. The National Bureau of Economic Research, the panel of economists responsible for identifying changes in the U.S. business cycle said Monday that it is "premature" to say whether the recession that began in 2007 has ended. Aluminum producer Alcoa gets the corporate earnings reporting period off to an unofficial start after U.S. markets close. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expect Alcoa to report earnings per share of 10 cents versus a loss of 59 cents U.S. a year ago. Overall, first-quarter earnings are expected to have risen nearly 37% over the year-ago period, according to Thomson Reuters. Revenue is forecast to have risen 10%. Other major companies reporting this week include tech names Intel and Google, as well as banking heavyweights JPMorgan and Bank of America. Economically speaking, the March Treasury budget, due in the afternoon, is expected to show a surplus of $67.5 billion U.S., versus a deficit of $191.6 billion U.S. in February, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com. U.S. Treasurys gained a bit of ground, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.85% from Friday's 3.89%. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil tacked on 29 cents to $85.21 U.S. Gold prices moved upward three dollars to $1,165 U.S. an ounce.