Toronto-Dominion Bank reports a relatively small decline in first-quarter profit
Stocks in Canada gained Wednesday, with the financial sector leading the market higher, as investors were cheered by a relatively small decline in Toronto-Dominion Bank's first-quarter net income.
In Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite closed up 73 points, or 0.9%, at 7,932.3 points. On Tuesday, the index rose 2.8%, tracking a rally on Wall Street.
Advancers led decliners 744 to 742.
Kicking off the Canadian bank earnings season, Toronto-Dominion Bank reported that its net income fell to C$712 million in the first quarter ended Jan. 31, down from C$970 million a year earlier. Adjusted net income fell to C$1.14 billion compared with C$1.06 billion a year earlier.
The bank reported earnings of 82 cents a share, compared with C$1.33 cents a share a year ago. It said that it expects "a worsening economic environment." Shares of the bank closed up 1.7%
Elsewhere in the sector, Royal Bank of Canada gained 5.3% and the Bank of Nova Scotia added 4.2%. Bank of Montreal slid 0.9%.
In the mining sector, several producers' shares pared earlier gains or registered losses as gold prices slid.
Shares in Yamana Gold Inc. ended 1.9% higher. Shares of Equinox Minerals Limited fell 2.3%. Barrick Gold Corp. closed 0.4% lower.
Gold prices closed at $966.20 an ounce, down 0.3% in New York trading.
Shares of Agrium Inc. a producer of fertilizers and other agricultural products, tumbled 8.5% after it launched an unsolicited bid Wednesday for CF Industries Holdings which itself is making a hostile bid for another firm, Terra Industries Calgary-based Agrium said it's bidding $3.6 billion of cash and stock for CF Industries Holdings in a deal that would add CF's North American nitrogen, phosphate and crop nutrient distribution assets to Agrium's global wholesale and retail capabilities.
Shares of Bombardier Inc. (CA:BBD.B: news , chart , profile ) fell 1.4%. The company said Wednesday that Bombardier Transportation has been awarded a contract in Australia by the Victorian government to build 32 rail cars valued at about $95 million.
Some energy companies reversed higher as oil prices rallied more than 6% to $42.50 a barrel. Read more.
Shares of Talisman Energy Inc. (CA:TLM: news , chart , profile ) ended 3.6% higher and shares of Suncor Energy Inc. (CA:SU: news , chart , profile ) gained 1.5%.
On Wall Street, U.S. stocks declined about 1%, as a trade group reported existing home sales fell 5.3% in January and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke delivered testimony in front of the House Financial Services panel. See Market Snapshot.
Bernanke tried to assure Congress and investors that federal regulators are not grasping at straws in the response to the financial crisis. Read more.
