BLBG: Canada Stocks Fluctuate After U.S. Rate Increase, Price Report
By Matt Walcoff
Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian stocks swung between gains and losses after an increase to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s discount rate was followed by a report of lower-than-expected inflation.
Kinross Gold Corp., Canada’s third-largest gold producer, fell 2.2 percent after the Fed raised its rate on direct loans to banks for the first time in more than three years. MDS Inc., the provider of medical products and services, rose 2.3 percent after announcing it plans to buy back up to 46 percent of its shares. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., which owns insurers in Canada, the U.S. and East Asia, declined 1.5 percent after reporting earnings that missed two analysts’ estimates.
The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index decreased 3.35 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 11,691.49 at 10:06 a.m. in Toronto.
The S&P/TSX has climbed 43 percent over the last 12 months as world central banks have kept interest rates at or near record lows to spur spending to end the deepest global recession in more than 50 years.
To contact the reporter on this story: Matt Walcoff in Toronto at mwalcoff1@bloomberg.net