Fall in Gold Shares Trims Gains
May 19, 2011
The Toronto Stock Exchange's 300-share composite index rose 13.65 to 5149.90 after falling 27.52 Thursday. For the week, the TSE 300 inched up about six points. Trading volume totaled about 74.4 million shares, down from Thursday's 89.2 million shares. Trading value fell to 821.4 million Canadian dollars from C$1.25 billion a day earlier. Advancing issues led decliners 478 to 365. But in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 52.90 to 5659.86, buoyed by reduced inflation fears following news that the latest U.S. employment figures didn't exceed expectations. Given the U.S. employment news and signs of economic growth in Canada based on a significant uptrend in employment in this country, some might have expected Toronto's equity market to post a better performance than it did. But Fredda Mantooth, senior trader at ScotiaMcLeod Inc., pointed out that Toronto traditionally ``doesn't get the same level of reaction (to employment data) than you'd get in the U.S.'' on the upside or on the downside. Overall, 10 of the TSE's 14 subgroups rose Friday. A 1.09% gain in the banking sector led advancing groups, as Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce added 0.15 to 45.30 following stronger-than-expected earnings for the latest period. But losses in the heavily weighted gold, base-metals and energy sectors countered the banks' upward move, resulting in Toronto's relatively limp performance. The gold sector posted the largest decline, losing 0.53% on weakness in the underlying gold price. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the bullion price dipped 60 U.S. cents to US$384.90 an ounce. In the gold group, Placer Dome Inc. fell 0.20 to 32.90.
