CD: Gold stocks help push TSX higher amid uncertainty in Japan, Libya, rising crude oil prices
By Malcolm Morrison, The Canadian Press
Toronto's Financial District is seen from the air on Friday January 21, 2010.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
TORONTO - The Toronto stock market was slightly higher Wednesday as nervousness over the spread of violent uprisings in the Mideast drove oil prices higher and investors continued to assess the economic toll of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan.
The S&P/TSX composite index moved 11.57 points higher to 14,011.57 while the TSX Venture Exchange rose 11.89 points to 2,297.13.
The Canadian dollar was lower as it appeared increasingly likely that Canadians will be heading to the polls after the three opposition parties turned their thumbs down on the Conservative government's new budget.
The loonie backed off 0.32 of a cent to 101.73 cents US as the greenback strengthened against a variety of currencies.
The May crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 40 cents to US$105.37 a barrel after jumping almost US$2 on Tuesday as unrest in the Mideast kept traders nervous about possible crude supply disruptions.
The energy sector declined 0.25 per cent with Suncor Energy (TSX:SU) down 23 cents to $44.49 while Imperial Oil (TSX:IMO) was ahead 36 cents to $50.90.
Oil has jumped 24 per cent since Feb. 14.
In Yemen, an important transfer point for global oil supplies, President Ali Abdullah Saleh warned Tuesday that the country could slide into a civil war as the opposition rejected his offer to step down by the end of the year.
Syrian security forces shot live ammunition and tear gas Wednesday near a mosque in the southern city of Daraa, where protesters have been camped out, killing six people including a paramedic, activists said.
In Libya, fighting between rebels and government forces has halted most of the country’s 1.6 million barrels a day of crude production. Investors expect that allied coalition military intervention on the side of rebels will likely prolong the shutdown of oil output from the OPEC nation.
The base metals sector gained 0.2 per cent as metal prices also rose with the May copper contract in New York ahead 11 cents to US$4.43 a pound. First Quantum (TSX:GM) was up $1.54 to $124.72 while Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B) lost $1.13 to $50.94.
The gold sector was the leading TSX group as the April gold contract on the Nymex climbed $2.70 to US$1,430.30 an ounce. Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) gained 39 cents to $47.53 while Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) rose 42 cents to $49.64.
