Energy, golds send TSX up over 100 points; retail sales help boost NY

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(The Canadian Press)

By Malcolm Morrison, The Canadian Press

TORONTO - The Toronto stock market moved up more than 100 points late Thursday morning as gold stocks charged higher while energy stocks continued to gain ground even as crude slipped from record high prices.

New York markets registered a small advance after retailing giant Wal-Mart Stores turned in better-than-expected sales. Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index moved 102.89 points higher to 14,474.42.

The TSX Venture Exchange gained 20.86 points to 2,525.44 and the Canadian dollar moved down 0.52 cent to 98.78 cents US as the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts dropped to 213,900 units in April from 243,000 in March.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., attributed most of the decrease to a drop in multiple starts after near-record highs in March and February.

New York's Dow Jones industrials gained 33.38 points to 12,847.73, after another day of record high oil prices helped send the blue-chip index tumbling 206 points in the previous session.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 11.93 points to 2,450.42 while the S&P 500 index climbed 3.19 to 1,395.76.

Wal-Mart reported same-store sales rose 3.2 per cent during April, easily beating Wall Street's 2.1 per cent growth forecast. The world's biggest retailer also said it expects May sales growth, excluding fuel, to be flat to up to two per cent and its shares gained 28 cents to US$57.11 in New York.

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart Canada said it plans to open or expand 25 to 27 stores during its financial year ending next January.

Costco Wholesale Corp. also did well last month as consumers - contending with rising gas prices, sagging home prices and job worries - flocked to discounters and wholesale clubs. But most mall-based apparel stores struggled.

In Canadian retail news, shares in Canadian Tire (TSX: CTC.TO) fell $2.72 to $63.78 even as the retailer posted first-quarter net earnings of $66.7 million, up 19.8 per cent from the year-earlier period's $55.7 million. However, same store sales were down four per cent.

There were also some downbeat results from Toyota Motor Corp.

The Japanese automaker said its January-March profit tumbled 28 per cent due to the rising yen and weak North American sales. Toyota also predicted its full-year sales and earnings will decline.

In Toronto, the energy sector was up 1.75 per cent as the June crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange shed $1.01 to US$122.52 a barrel. Petro-Canada (TSX: PCA.TO) added $1.09 to $55.52 and Suncor Energy (TSX: SU.TO) climbed $2.52 to $123.52.

Gold prices headed up with the June bullion contract in New York ahead $13.60 to US$884.80 an ounce, taking the TSX gold sector ahead 4.4 per cent. Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX: ABX.TO) was up $1.49 to $40.68 while Kinross Gold Corp. (TSX: K.TO) improved $1 to $20.28.

The financial sector was down about one per cent, largely due to the latest earnings report from Manulife Financial (TSX: MFC.TO). Its shares fell $1.56 to $37.41 after the company reported profit of $869 million, down from a year-ago $986 million as sliding equity markets took an estimated $265-million bite out of earnings.

Manulife's total revenue fell to $7.97 billion from a year-before $8.63 billion as premiums and deposits slid five per cent to $17.8 billion.

Elsewhere in the sector, CIBC (TSX: CM.TO) was 53 cents lighter at $72.87.

Onex Corp. (TSX: OCX.TO) was off 28 cents to $32.34 as the international conglomerate booked a 13 per cent rise in first-quarter revenue to $6.23 billion but net earnings declined to $45 million. That compared with $149 million in the year-ago quarter which included $116 million from discontinued operations.

Air Canada (TSX: AC-A.TO) descended three cents to $8.02 after a first-quarter net loss of $288 million, including a $125-million provision for cargo price-fixing investigations and $89 million in currency setbacks.

Biovail Corp. (TSX: BVF.TO) moved up 67 cents to $12.51 after the drug company unveiled a new strategic plan to focus on central nervous system disorders, close its Puerto Rico operations and sell non-core assets. Biovail also reported first-quarter profit moved down to $56.4 million from $93.8 million a year ago. Revenues dropped to $208.5 million, compared with $247 million a year before.

Mega Brands Inc. (TSX: MB.TO) suffered a US$9.6-million first-quarter loss as sales declined 12 per cent to US$79.1 million on lower shipments of movie-related licensed products and magnetic construction toys. Its shares dropped 17 cents to $3.59.

AbitibiBowater Inc. (TSX: ABH.TO) lost US$248 million in the first quarter on sales of $1.7 billion. The loss is not directly comparable with year-ago pre-merger results for Bowater Inc. and Abitibi-Consolidated Inc., and CEO David Paterson said the forest industry giant made "important progress." Its shares rose 40 cents to $9.90.

Irving Oil Ltd. and Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (TSX: ATD-B.TO) are expanding their partnership into Atlantic Canada and New England. The companies said Thursday the new arrangement covers 252 Irving Oil convenience-store sites which will be leased and operated by Couche-Tard. Alimentation shares climbed 64 cents to $15.45.

Yellow Pages Income Fund (TSX: YLO-UN.TO) units moved up 21 cents to $10.91 after it booked a five per cent increase in first-quarter earnings to $127 million as revenue rose eight per cent to $414.6 million.

European bourses were modestly lower after the Bank of England and the European Central Bank left their policy-setting short-term interest rates unchanged.

The FTSE 100 index was off 16.3 points to 6,244.7, while the German DAX slipped 34.58 points to 7,041.67 and the Paris CAC-40 was off 29.11 to 5,046.2.

Japan's stock market closed with a loss of 1.1 per cent, with the Nikkei average down 159.22 points to 13,943.26.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index also posted a triple-digit loss, declining 160.42 points or 0.6 per cent to 25,449.79.

Chinese stocks, however, rose on bargain hunting. The Shanghai Composite index closed up 2.2 per cent to 3,656.8, after dropping 4.1 per cent Wednesday.