Miners push tsx to three-year high
• Rising mining stocks helped push the Toronto stock market to a threeyear high Friday as traders digested a generally positive bag of economic indicators.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 53.11 points at 14,054.76 after closing above the 14,000 threshold Thursday for the first time since April 2011.
The Canadian dollar closed down 0.05 of a cent at US91.05¢ even as manufacturing shipments declined 0.9% in December, the first month that has happened since August.
New York indexes turned higher after the latest reading on U.S. consumer confidence, the University of Michigan’s index, was unchanged at 81.2. A slight drop had been expected. Another report showed that harsh winter weather led to U.S. factory output falling by 0.8% in January.
“[Weather] is a big deal and it will have an impact on the numbers,” said Gareth Watson, vice-president, investment management and research, at Richardson GMP Ltd. “But the extent that you can blame the weather is still up for debate. It’s a factor but is that the overriding factor? And I think you won’t really figure that out until we get a month where there hasn’t been interference from the weather.”
The Dow Jones industrials jumped 126.8 points to 16,154.39, the Nasdaq was 3.36 points higher at 4244.03 and the S&P 500 index rose 8.8 points to 1838.63.
Elsewhere, China’s consumer prices rose 2.5% over a year earlier in January, unchanged from December. Traders found the inflation data encouraging because it leaves the Chinese government room to stimulate the world’s second-biggest economy.
Other data showed that economic growth across the eurozone was stronger than expected as gross domestic product grew by 0.3% in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter. That adds up to an annualized rate of about 1.2%. Analysts had been looking for fourth-quarter growth of 0.2%.
The TSX gold sector gained about 2% as bullion advanced US$18.60 to US$1,319 an ounce. The base-metals component was ahead 0.83%, with copper up US1¢ at US$3.26 a pound. Financials were up 0.51% following a number of positive earnings reports this week from insurers.
The energy sector declined 0.19%. Oil prices declined in the wake of the U.S. factory data as crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed down US5¢ to US$100.30 a barrel.
On the earnings front, Enbridge Inc. posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $267-million as it recognized lower values for some of its assets. Ex-items, the pipeline and energy services company earned 44¢ a share, 2¢ short of estimates and its shares added 45¢ to $47.82.
Brookfield Asset Management Inc. posted fourth-quarter net income of US$850million, or $1.08 per share. Funds from operations increased to US$1.03-billion ($1.59), more than double a year earlier and its shares gained 47¢ to $43.25.
And sports equipment company Bauer Performance Sports Ltd. has signed a deal to buy the baseball and softball business of Easton-Bell Sports for US$330-million. Bauer shares slipped 33¢ to $13.85.