CP Rail and gold give TSX SlighT booST

The Toronto stock market closed slightly higher Tuesday thanks to a positive earnings report from Canadian Pacific Railway and rising gold stocks. But the TSX was held back by Research

In Motion Ltd., which lost ground for a second day before the unveiling of its new BlackBerry 10 products.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 14.65 points to 12,830.56 while the TSX Venture Exchange climbed 14.04 points to 1,231.92.

The Canadian dollar found some equilibrium after a string of losses, rising US0.41¢ to US99.76¢.

The dollar had tumbled about US1.4¢ since the Bank of Canada indicated last Wednesday that it will be slower to raise interest rates than had been expected because of economic weakness. Higher rates tend to attract investors and push up the currency.

U.S. indexes were mixed amid data showing improving house prices along with a decline in consumer confidence during January with the Dow industrials ahead 72.49 points to 13,954.42.

The Nasdaq was 0.64 of a point lower to 3,153.66 while the S&P 500 edged up 7.66 points to 1,507.84.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. says its profit was cut to $15 million or 8¢ per share in the fourth quarter amid a number of restructuring expenses. On an adjusted basis, however, CP’s earning rose by 17¢ from a year earlier to $1.28 per share, in line with analyst estimates. Its shares climbed $3.45 to $116.22, a far cry from its 52-week low of $70.61, prior to the shakeup forced on the railway by Bill Ackman, the head of hedge fund Pershing Square, which is the single biggest CP shareholder.

Investors continued to take profits from Research In Motion Ltd.’s spectacular runup this month ahead of the unveiling of its BlackBerry 10 lineup Wednesday in New York. RIM stock was off the worst levels of the session, closing down 56¢ or 3.44% to $15.71 on top of a 7.6% slide Monday. As of Friday, RIM stock had soared 50% during January.

“Ford Motor Co. was a weight on the Dow, even as the automaker earned $1.6 billion in the fourth quarter or 31¢ per share, which beat analysts’ forecast of 25¢ per share. But its shares fell 64¢ or 4.64% to US$13.14 because of a worse than expected outlook for sales in Europe, where many countries are in recession.

Drugmaker Pfizer was the biggest gainer on the Dow, rising 86¢ to $27.70 after the company said its fourth-quarter profit more than quadrupled because of a $4.8billion gain from selling its nutrition business, despite competition from generic drugs hurting sales.