TH: TSX flat despite rising prices for oil and copper
The Toronto stock market was relatively flat Friday morning, despite rising oil and copper prices, as it failed to find lift from data which showed fourth quarter U.S. economic growth coming in close to expectations.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 4.27 points to 13,414.47 while the TSX Venture Exchange rose 6.05 points to 2,240.02.
U.S. gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of 3.2 per cent during the October-December period, slightly less than the 3.5 per cent pace that economists had forecast.
The fourth quarter results are an improvement from the 2.6 per cent advance in the previous quarter. And it was the best quarterly showing since the start of last year.
The Canadian dollar lost ground against the greenback in the wake of the GDP data, down 0.19 of a cent to 100.49 cents US.
The base metals sector led decliners, down 0.62 per cent even as the March copper contract on the Nymex added four cents to US$4.38. Equinox Minerals (TSX: EQN) lost 11 cents to $5.91.
The gold sector advanced even as bullion fell for a second day. The February gold contract on the Nymex moved down $7.50 to US$1,310.90 an ounce and Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX: ABX) gained 33 cents to $46.35.
The energy sector was ahead 0.13 per cent as the March crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 48 cents to US$86.12 a barrel.
A regulatory panel has conditionally approved Total E&P Canada’s proposed Joslyn North oilsands mine. The proposed mine is about 70 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, Alta., and operations are set to start in 2017. Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX: SU) picked up a minority interest in Joslyn through a $1.75-billion deal with the French-owned E&P late last year. Suncor shares gained 18 cents to $38.73.
Investors also took in an earnings disappointment from Ford Motor Co.
The automaker earned US$6.6 billion in 2010, its highest profit in more than a decade. Revenues rose three per cent to US$120.9 billion.
Ford’s net income, of US$1.66 per share, compared with net income of US$2.7 billion, or 86 cents per share, in 2009.
But Ford fell short of expectations. Analysts polled by FactSet had forecast earnings of $2.05 per share, but they didn’t take into account some one-time items such as debt repayments.
Ford earned US$190 million, or five cents per share, in the fourth quarter and its shares were down about five per cent to US$17.81.
New York’s Dow Jones industrial average edged up 5.83 points to 11,995.66.
The Nasdaq composite index was unchanged at 2,755.28 points to while the S&P 500 index added 0.77 of a point to 1,300.31.
In other corporate news, AGF Management Ltd.’s (TSX: AGF.B) fourth quarter profit fell sharply amid higher expenses, lower revenue and the absence of an income tax rebate recorded a year earlier.
The mutual fund and wealth management company posted $31 million of net income in the quarter with $155.9 million of revenue. That’s down from a $45.5 million profit and $157.7 million in revenue in a year earlier and its shares declined 17 cents to $18.69.
Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. (TSX: COS) which owns the largest share of the massive Syncrude oilsands mine, has posted better than expected fourth-quarter results. Net income rose from $96 million, or 20 cents per share, in the last three months of 2009 to $311 million, or 64 cents per share in the same 2010 period. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had, on average, been calling for Canadian Oil Sands to earn 41 cents per share. Its shares gained 62 cents to $26.92.
In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average dropped 1.1 per cent as traders reacted to the news — revealed after the close the previous day — that Standard & Poor’s has lowered Japan’s long-term sovereign debt rating one notch to AA- due to its ballooning public debt.
Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.7 per cent as the first estimates of the economic cost of east coast flooding were released.
South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.3 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.7 per cent.
China’s Shanghai Composite index gained 0.1 per cent.
London’s FTSE 100 index was off 0.92 per cent, Frankfurt’s DAX added 0.08 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 edged up 0.02 per cent.
