TORONTO - The Toronto stock market was led higher by gold stocks Monday morning as bullion prices made strides amid traders' fears about Europe's debt problems.
The S&P/TSX composite index added 62.8 points to 12,471.09. The junior Venture exchange was 3.7 points higher at 1,653,67.
Worries about the state of Italy's fianances drove the price of gold up $24.60 to US$1,780.70 an ounce. On the TSX, shares in Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) added 49 cents to C$52.72.
Italy's borrowing rates spiked Monday to their highest levels since the country adopted the euro. Markets fear that Italy's debts are too large to be handled by an international bailout.
The Canadian dollar turned around an earlier loss to add 0.27 of a cent to 98.63 cents US.
Oil prices added $1.11 to US$95.37 a barrel. Copper prices shed one cent to US$3.55 a pound.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 22.86 points, to 12,006.2, while the S&P 500 index fell 6.6 points, to 1,244.5. The Nasdaq index dropped 1.6 points to 2,684.60.
Following last week's turmoil centred on worries that Greece was heading for imminent bankruptcy, investor fears are now focused on Italy, the eurozone's third-largest economy. Italy is also the third-biggest debt market in the world.
If its cost of borrowing rises too much, the country wouldn't be able to raise the money it needs to roll over its debts, creating big problems for the European banking system and the global economy.
Greece has stepped back from the brink, promising to cobble together a unity government that looks like it will continue with fiscal reforms, but in Italy the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faces a confidence vote this week.
In Canadian corporate news, RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX:REI.UN) tripled its third-quarter net earnings to $168 million, or 63 cents per unit, up from $56 million or 23 cents per unit a year ago, on various acquisitions. Shares were up 15 cents to $25.07 on the TSX.
Ensign Energy (TSX:ESI) said its net profit in the latest quarter was $64 million or 52 cents per share in the three months ended Sept. 30. That was double the $32 million, or 21 cents per share, the company made in the same quarter a year ago. Its shares added 4.2 per cent or 65 cents to $16 each.
Cameco (TSX:CCO) shares dropped 3.4 per cent or 73 cents at $21.04 after it said its third-quarter profits dropped 60 per cent to $39 million from $98 million a year earlier. On a per share basis earnings were 10 cents compared to 25 cents.
Monday is a quiet day for economic reports in both Canada and the United States, although the Federal Reserve will report in the afternoon on how much American consumers borrowed in September.
In Europe, France's CAC-40 was 0.3 per cent higher while Germany's DAX fell 0.06 per cent. Britain's FTSE 100 lost 0.4 per cent.
Earlier, Asian shares fell, with Japan's Nikkei 225 index dropping 0.4 per cent to close at 8,767.09. South Korea's Kospi lost 0.5 per cent to 1,919.10 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.2 per cent at 4,273.40.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng sank 0.8 per cent to 19,677.89. Mainland China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.7 per cent to 2,509.80 and the Shenzhen Composite Index lost 0.6 per cent to 1,065.31.
