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By: Cameron French
Reuters
Monday, April 28, 2003
TORONTO, April 28 (Reuters) - Toronto stocks
rose moderately on Monday as optimism for a
reasonably strong earnings season drew buyers
into tech and consumer stocks.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite
index .GSPTSE finished the session up 26.97
points, or 0.41 percent, at 6,548.66.
Adrian
Mastracci, investment counsel and president
of
‘ fee-only’ KCM Wealth Management,
says, "I think we have not had as many
of the debacles we thought we were going
to have. But we're still not out of the woods
yet.”
Despite lingering uncertainty over the costs
of rebuilding Iraq and worries over the economic
impact of SARS, particularly in Toronto, the
market has risen a fairly steady 3.4 percent
over the past four weeks.
"We've just been inundated with Iraq
and SARS, and eventually people say enough
is enough. There still is a business world,
and people are still buying and selling things," said
Sal Masionis, stockbroker at Brant Securities
in Toronto.
But with few earnings reports to sift through
on Monday, many investors elected to stand
on the sidelines for Tuesday's heavy schedule.
A minuscule 145.4 million shares were traded,
valued at C$1.54 billion.
Market momentum was positive, as advancing
issues outnumbered decliners 593 to 510. The
blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 index .TSE60 climbed
1.19 points, or 0.32 percent, to 372.46.
With the first-quarter reporting period about
half over, investors are hoping that the progress
won't be derailed by any earnings disappointments.
"I think we have not had as many of the
debacles we thought we were going to have," said
Adrian Mastracci of KCM
Wealth Management Inc. "But
we're still not out of the woods yet, because
the second quarter doesn't look like it's going
to be any great shakes."
Tech and consumer staple stocks led the way
on Monday, rising 1.99 percent, and 1.21 percent,
respectively.
Graphics chips maker ATI Technologies Inc.
ATY.TO rose 45 Canadian cents to C$8.90, while
wireless e-mail device manufacturer Research
In Motion Ltd. RIM.TO pushed ahead 92 Canadian
cents to C$22.32.
The tech sector has risen 16 percent since
mid-March but is still down more than 80 percent
from its high during the 2000 tech boom.
In the consumer sector, grocery store operators
were up sharply, as Sobeys Inc. SBY.TO climbed
95 Canadian cents to C$37.15, while Loblaw
Cos. Ltd. L.TO swelled 95 Canadian cents to
C$55.75.
Among top individual gainers, Lorus Therapeutics
Inc. LOR.TO surged 32 Canadian cents, or 20
percent, to C$1.92, pushing to a year high
on reports that its flagship treatment for
pancreatic cancer could also be used to fight
breast, ovarian and prostate cancers.
However, drug maker Biovail Corp. BVF.TO dropped
C$1.60 to C$60.90, holding the TSX health care
sector to a gain of just 0.1 percent on the
day. Biovail is due to release its earnings
on Tuesday.
U.S. stocks rose sharply, as the Dow Jones
industrial average .DJI climbed 165.26 points,
or
1.99 percent, to 8,471.61, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index .IXIC
advanced
27.70 points, or 1.93 percent, to 1,462.24.
On Tuesday, investors will pay close attention
to earnings from companies such as conglomerate
Brascan Corp BNNa.TO , oil and gas producer
Petro-Canada PCA.TO , and fibre-optics parts
maker JDS Uniphase Corp. JDU.TO .
As well, the market will get a chance to react
to results from world No. 2 gold producer Barrick
Gold Corp. ABX.TO , which reported a lower
first-quarter profit after markets closed on
Monday, although the results were within analyst
expectations. It also said it would reduce
its gold hedging positions further.
($1=$1.45 Canadian)
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