Bargain-hunters survey the rubble after massive stock-market carnage

Fri Nov 21, 10:17 AM
David Friend, The Canadian Press
TORONTO - The Toronto stock market's main index pushed ahead shortly after the opening bell as investors picked up the pieces from the previous day's disastrous session.
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(The Canadian Press)

By David Friend, The Canadian Press

TORONTO - The Toronto stock market's main index pushed ahead shortly after the opening bell as investors picked up the pieces from the previous day's disastrous session.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 222.32 points to 7,947.08 after ending with a 766-point loss Thursday. That nine per cent drop was its steepest one-day decline since the October 1987 crash, extending Wednesday's 345-point slide.

The mining index led gains today, up 9.3 per cent. Energy stocks were also higher, up 4.9 per cent as the December crude contract rose 63 cents to US$50.05 per barrel.

The beaten-down Canadian dollar - which plunged 2.52 cents yesterday - was at 78.16 cents US, up 0.85 of a cent after Statistics Canada reported the headline inflation rate eased last month to 2.6 per cent, from 3.4 per cent in September.

Wall Street stocks were also higher with all three major indexes ahead about two per cent.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 124.17 points to 7,676. The Nasdaq composite was ahead 25.30 at 1,341 and the S&P 500 moved up 15.21 to 768, as bargain-hunting temptations offset weak sentiment amid the prevailing economic gloom.

The market is digesting a Wall Street Journal report that Citigroup Inc. is considering selling all or part of itself following a plunge in its stock price - 26 per cent yesterday alone.

In earnings, Sears Canada Inc. (TSX: SCC.TO) reported a third-quarter profit of $68.9 million as same-store sales increased 0.9 per cent from the comparable period a year ago despite a tough retail environment. Its shares gained 26 cents to $16.80.

Catalyst Paper Corp. (TSX: CTL.TO) fell three cents to 27 cents after the company announced a tentative four-year contract agreement with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada at its B.C. pulp and paper operations.

European stock indexes pulled back from earlier gains. The FTSE 100 is down 0.2 per cent in the afternoon in London. Germany's DAX index slipped 0.4 per cent and the Paris CAC-40 declined 0.7 per cent.

Earlier, Japan's Nikkei stock average jumped 2.7 per cent, gaining 207.75 points to 7,910.79, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index advanced 2.9 per cent.