Wednesday, 29 July 2015 00:21
TORONTO: Canada’s main stock index edged higher on Tuesday after a seven-day streak of losses as investors picked through earnings reports and several resource stocks got a bounce from recent lows.
BlackBerry Ltd gained 4.8 percent to C$ 9.96 after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock of the smartphone pioneer.
Shares in oil company Husky Energy Inc jumped 3.4 percent to C$ 23.34 after its quarterly report.
At 11:03 a.m. EDT (1503 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 10.01 points, or 0.07 percent, at 14,011.38. It had traded in the red for much of the morning, and is down more than 5 percent in the past month.
The Chinese equities rout of the past week pummeled oil prices, hitting the shares of Canadian oil companies and exposing many resource companies to the prospect of less demand for their products as fears for the world’s second largest economy increase.
“Weaker economic numbers out of China and other emerging market countries don’t portend well for the commodity complex, which is what Canada is based on,” said Manash Goswami, a portfolio manager at First Asset Investment Management. Goswami said quarterly corporate earnings have so far been adequate but not outstanding.
“Companies are cost-cutting and they are managing their way through this, but we haven’t seen robust top-line growth,” he said. Shares in WestJet Airlines Ltd fell 1.2 percent to C$ 22.39 even though the company reported a 19 percent rise in profit, helped by lower fuel costs and new routes. Home Capital Group Inc fell 5.6 percent to C$ 27.52. The alternative lender said after the close on Monday that board member James Baille, a former chairman of the Ontario Securities Commission, had resigned.
Pipeline operator Enbridge Inc fell 1.1 percent to C$ 54.27, while First Quantum Minerals Ltd lost 4.9 percent to C$ 10.99. Production at its Zambian mines was hit by power cuts.
