A man walks past a building in Toronto that used to house the Toronto Stock Exchange on August 18 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim
TORONTO - The Toronto stock market was relatively flat near midday Wednesday as traders weighed mixed commodity prices against new data on both the U.S. and Canadian housing markets.
The S&P/TSX composite index advanced 13.13 points to 12,435.84. The TSX Venture Exchange rose 10.03 points to 1,332.67.
The Canadian dollar was off 0.15 of a cent to 102.46 cents US.
The energy sector marked the biggest decliner, off 0.6 per cent, with Talisman Energy falling eight cents to $14.17.
October crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved down $2.75 to US$92.54 a barrel.
December bullion increased $1.60 to US$1,772.80 an ounce while December copper was up less than one cent to US$3.80 a pound.
In economic data, a report from the U.S. Commerce Department said that builders started construction on more homes in August, driven by the fastest pace of single-family home construction in more than two years.
Construction of new homes and apartments rose 2.3 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 750,000 last month.
The picture of the Canadian housing market was somewhat less encouraging, with the Teranet–National Bank National Composite House Price Index showing that prices rose a meagre 0.2 per cent in August from the month prior. That marks the weakest month-over-month increase in 12 years.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials gained 20.74 points to 13,585.38. The Nasdaq composite index trekked ahead 0.17 of a point to 3,177.97 and the S&P 500 index was 1.87 points higher to 1,461.19.
Japan's main stock market hit a four-month high Wednesday after the country's central bank eased monetary policy to shore up fragile economic growth, but the positive momentum ground to a halt in Europe.
The Bank of Japan said it was increasing its asset purchasing fund to 55 trillion yen (US$700 billion) from 45 trillion yen to counter the strength of the Japanese currency. A strong yen makes it more difficult for Japanese companies to compete in international markets.
The central bank's move comes days after the U.S. Federal Reserve revealed it will purchase an average of $40 billion a month in mortgage-backed securities until the economy shows significant improvement.
In corporate developments, B2Gold Corp. (TSX:BTO) plans to acquire CGA Mining Ltd. (TSX:CGA) and its producing Masbate mine in a friendly all-stock deal they value at $1.1 billion. B2Gold stock fell 27 cents or 6.3 per cent to $4.03 while CGA's rose 27 cents or 10.2 per cent to $2.92.
Air Canada (TSX:AC.B) said it is a couple of weeks away from announcing details of its plan to launch a separately managed low-cost airline that will service transatlantic and leisure routes in the Caribbean and the United States. Its shares rose five per cent, or six cents, to $1.22.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares up 0.2 per cent at 5,878 while Germany's DAX was up 0.4 per cent at 7,376. The CAC-40 in France was 0.4 per cent higher at 3,527.
Earlier in Asia, stocks were generally fairly buoyant after the Bank of Japan's easing announcement.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.2 per cent to 20,841.91 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.5 per cent to 4,418.40. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.2 per cent to 2,007.88. The Shanghai Composite Index rose for the sixth straight trading day, up 0.4 per cent to 2,067.83. The Shenzhen Composite Index gained 0.7 per cent to 865.73.
© The Canadian Press, 2012
19 Sep, 2012
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Source: http://www.globalnews.ca/Money/toronto+stock+market+flat+with+commodity+prices+mixed+alongside+housing+data/6442718019/story.html
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