The Toronto stock market was up sharply mid-morning Monday with all sectors showing gains as commodity prices advanced and investors looked optimistically to a tide of earnings from big Canadian companies this week.
Mining, energy and tech stocks led advancers as the S&P/TSX composite index climbed 105.2 points to 11,487.3 which all but cancelled out last week's decline of just over one per cent.
The main index is close to its highs for the year and is up more than 50 per cent since the lows of early March.
The Canadian dollar continued to back away after Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney reiterated late last week that the currency's recent sharp rise threatens to derail the economic recovery. And he made it clear that intervention in currency markets to control that surge is a possibility.
On Monday, Carney warned that governments won't allow the world's bankers to return to their irresponsible ways and added financiers had better get ready for major changes to the way they do business.
The loonie was down 0.25 cent to 94.82 cents US.
Oil prices held firm above the US$80 a barrel mark as the December crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange advanced 82 cents to US$81.32 a barrel. The TSX energy sector was ahead almost one per cent and EnCana Corp. (TSX: ECA) rose $1.35 to C$64.45.
Other commodities edged higher as the December bullion contract on the Nymex gained $3.20 cents to US$1,059.60 an ounce, taking the gold sector up 1.23 per cent. Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX: ABX) improved 51 cents to $40.10.
Iamgold Corp. (TSX: IMG) shares gained 53 cents to $15.02 as the company increased its 2009 production guidance by 3.3 per cent to between 940,000 and 950,000 ounces of gold at an average cash cost of between $460 and $470 per ounce.
The base metals sector advanced 1.9 per cent while December copper was up three cents to US$3.07 a pound. Teck Resources (TSX: TCK.B) climbed 81 cents to $35.62.
Tech stocks also attracted investors as Research In Motion Ltd. (TSX: RIM) moved up $1.06 to $70.26 and Celestica Inc. (TSX: CLS) was up 31 cents to $9.27.
The Toronto market is little changed since the beginning of the month even as the U.S. third-quarter earnings season has seen many companies beat earnings expectations.
Now in the coming week investors will take in reports from Canadian market heavyweights including utility TransAlta Corp. (TSX: TA), Canadian Pacific Railway (TSX: CP), Imperial Oil (TSX: IMO) and Nexen Inc. (TSX: NXY).
The TSX Venture Exchange added 2.77 points to 1,336.68.
New York indexes were also sharply higher as investors also await the U.S. government's first reading on the economy in the third quarter later in the week.
The Dow Jones industrial average was ahead 93.2 points to 10,065.4.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 26.5 points to 2,180.97 while the S&P 500 index was up 10.65 points to 1,090.25.
The U.S. Commerce Department's report on third-quarter gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the economy's health, is due out on Thursday. Economists predict the economy grew at an annual rate of 3.2 per cent in the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters. That would mark the first quarter of growth after four straight declines.
In other corporate news, former Walt Disney Co. chairman Michael Eisner and Canadian media and communications company Rogers Communications (TSX: RCI.B) have formed an investment and distribution partnership. As part of the deal, Rogers will have the exclusive Canadian rights to future projects from the new web video studio called Vuguru. Financial terms of the agreement aren't known.
Shares in Rogers, which reports its latest quarterly results Tuesday, advanced 20 cents to $29.09.
CI Financial Corp. (TSX: CIX) shares gained 20 cents to $19.89 as it announced it is selling investment dealer Blackmont Capital Inc. to Australian-based Macquarie Group. for $93.3 million.
CI Financial says it will keep Blackmont's capital markets division, which provides market research and producing analyst reports on stocks and other investments.
Blackmont operates a network of about 130 investment advisers who provide services to retail investors.
Jien Canada Mining Ltd. says it still holds the best offer to take over Canadian Royalties Inc. (TSX: CZZ) in a $192-million proposed deal and urged securityholders Monday to tender securities before the Oct. 27 deadline. Jaguar Financial (TSX: JFC) has said it will attempt to block the deal because debtholders would receive only 80 per cent of their principal back, not 101 per cent as required under the debt agreements. Canadian Royalties shares surged five cents to 71 cents.
Asian stocks closed higher as South Korea's central bank said economic growth accelerated to 2.9 per cent in the third quarter from the previous quarter – the fastest growth since the first quarter of 2002.
Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average rose 0.8 per cent, South Korea's Kospi advanced one per cent, Hong Kong's market was closed for a holiday and China's Shanghai benchmark gained 0.1 per cent.
London's FTSE 100 index gained 0.69 per cent, Frankfurt's DAX gained one per cent while the Paris CAC 40 was ahead 0.73 per cent.
