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By Emily Bowers
Reuters
Thursday, December 9, 2004
TORONTO (Reuters) - Stronger commodity issues helped Toronto stocks finish slightly higher on Thursday, resisting the pull of falling financial shares.
Adrian Mastracci, ‘fee-only’ investment counsel at
Vancouver’s KCM Wealth Management, says,
“From the perspective of Canadians, we have a lot of things we don't have control over.”
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index gained 9.81 points, or 0.11 percent, to close at 9,013.55. Six of the 10 main subindexes finished lower.
"It's almost all commodity-oriented," said John Kinsey, portfolio manager at Caldwell Securities. "The commodities (prices) have been getting trashed for a while, and that's stopped today, and it's helping the stocks."
The materials group gained 0.62 percent as its component gold-mining group rose 1.52 percent.
Glamis Gold rose 49 Canadian cents, or 2.17 percent, to C$23.05, after the price of February delivery bullion fell just $1.50 to $437.10. The U.S. dollar, which generally trades opposite to gold, made small gains.
The energy index gained 0.9 percent, as U.S. light crude rose 59 cents to $42.53 a barrel after touching a four-month low of $40.45 on Wednesday.
Encana Corp. gained C$1.10, or 1.7 percent, to C$65.70. Shell Canada rose C$1.89, or 2.54 percent, to C$76.41 a day after reporting a major gas find in the foothills of Alberta.
With a large part of the Toronto market comprised of commodity-related issues, analysts said investors should get used to rapid changes in world commodity prices.
"From the perspective of Canadians, we have a lot of things we don't have control over," said Adrian Mastracci, investment counsel and president at KCM Wealth Management Inc., citing the fluctuating U.S. dollar and price of base metals and other commodities.
"The volatility across the world is something that Canada's going to have to put up with; we're going to have to take it in stride."
Information technology issues rose 0.36 percent, with Nortel Networks Corp. gaining 11 Canadian cents, to 2.4 percent, to end at C$4.70.
Comments by Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge that Ottawa should update laws on mergers in the financial sector was not enough to push the heavyweight subindex into the black.
Financial shares slid 0.49 percent with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce shedding 50 Canadian cents, or 0.71 percent, to C$69.55.
"Part of the bloom is off the rose for the banks," Kinsey said, citing investor concerns about the sector's growth potential.
Insurance stocks also fell, with Sun Life Financial losing 23 Canadian cents, or 0.57 percent, to C$39.81.
Market momentum was positive with 762 shares advancing and 591 declining. Volume was 228 million shares worth C$3.35 billion.
Toronto's S&P/TSX 60 index <.TSE60> rose a scant 0.36 points, or 0.07 percent, to 502.06.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 58.59 points, or 0.56 percent, to 10,552.82. The Nasdaq composite index <.IXIC> rose 2.90 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,129.01.
($1=$1.22 Canadian)
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