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Canadian benchmark equity index slightly changed as gold stocks fall and bank stocks rise

25 August 2011 01:42 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Canadian benchmark equity index was slightly changed on Wednesday as gold stocks fell and bank stocks rose, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 5.48 points, or 0.04 percent, at 12,343.81. The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index closed down 25.29 points, or 1.44 percent, at 1,735.58.

As gold futures declined more than five percent, the index measuring the materials sector on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) lost 2.01 percent. Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest bullion producer, tumbled 3.69 percent.

But bank stocks provided strong support for the markets after Bank of Montreal reported on Tuesday a 18-percent hike in net income during the second quarter from the same period last year.

The index measuring the financials sector on the TSX added 1.49 percent. Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s biggest lender, increased 2.44 percent. Toronto-Dominion Bank, the country’s second largest lender, advanced 2.41 percent.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. climbed 3.94 percent after Bloomberg reported that the company is preparing a future slate of handsets to run apps designed for the Android mobile operating system designed by Google.

On other corporate news, BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company, said that its annual profit was up nearly 86 percent amid soaring prices for iron ore and copper, but the company warned that cost pressures could hurt its earnings in the longer term.

Afexa Life Sciences Inc. is reiterating its rejection of a hostile takeover bid by Montreal-based Paladin Labs Inc. The maker of the popular Cold-FX flu remedy says the unsolicited offer from Paladin is financially inadequate and not in the company’s best interests.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar appreciated slightly against its U.S. counterpart.

One U.S. dollar was buying 0.9872 Canadian dollars at 5 p.m. local time (22:00 GMT) on Wednesday, compared with one U.S. dollar purchasing 0.9879 Canadian dollars on Wednesday.