Mar. 11, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Canadian stocks may struggle to move higher Thursday morning on lack of positive triggers to support the main index, in its quest to surpass the calendar-year high.
The S&P/TSX composite index began Thursday's session down 22.75 points to 11,938.31.
Commodity prices were off from their recent highs after China reported a bigger than expected jump in inflation in February, while worries over the Greece debt-situation continued to cap gains.
However, encouraging economic data from both sides of the border released around the start of trading could arrest the fall.
Energy stocks may be in play after BP Plc said it will spend $7 billion in acquiring exploration rights in countries including Brazil. The company also said it will sell some of its interests in Canada to Devon Energy for $500 million.
In other news in M&A space, Scotiabank's affiliate Thanachart Pcl will be acquiring a 48% stake in Siam City Bank Pcl for $979 million.
Agriculture business company Viterra Inc will, through its subsidiary, acquire Growers Pasta Company, Inc., for $240 million. Grower Pasta is a portfolio arm of U.S. based business development company MVC Capital, Inc.
In other corporate news, Xceed Mortgage slipped to loss in the first quarter, reporting a net loss of $0.42 per share versus a profit of $0.12 in the year-ago quarter.
Mineral explorer Gabriel Resources reported a wider fourth quarter loss of $0.03 per share, compared to loss of $0.02 per share last year.
Oil and natural gas explorer Galleon Energy reported a loss of $0.43 for the full year 2009 compared to a profit of $1.10 in the previous year.
Oil and gas company TransGlobe Energy reported decrease in its fourth-quarter net income at $0.04 per share, compared to $0.13 per share a year ago.
Natural gas producer Paramount Energy said it will issue 10.5 million subscription receipts, that could be converted into trust units at $4.75, mainly aimed at funding its $123 million asset purchase.
Entertainment company IMAX Corp. said it swung to profit in the fourth quarter, reporting net earnings of $0.06 per share, compared to a net loss of $0.21 per share last year.
Integrated tour operator Transat A.T. reported a narrower first-quarter net loss of $0.37 per share, compared to net loss of $0.90 per share last year.
Diagnostic solutions provider Spectral Diagnostics fourth-quarter loss widened to $0.05 per share from $0.01 per share in the year ago period.
Diagnostic technology company Response Biomedical reported a narrower net loss of $0.04 per share, down from $0.10 per share a year ago.
Asset management company Sprott Inc. reported lower fourth-quarter net income of $0.09 per share compared with $0.14 per share in the prior-year period.
In brokerage updates, RBC hiked Crew Energy price target to $16 from $14. UBS raised Quebecor price target to $39 from $33.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said the country's trade surplus was wider than expected in January at $799 million compared to $75 million in December. It also said merchandise exports in the country grew 0.5% in January.
The Canadian dollar was down 0.45 cents to 97.06 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but two of the 14 TSX subgroups spent the morning in lower territory. Metals and mining stocks suffered 0.9%, while telecoms fell 0.6% and materials were off 0.5%.
The two gainers were health-care and real-estate stocks, both up 0.1%.
The TSX Venture Exchange gave back 2.89 points to 1,553.91, while the Nasdaq Canada index eased 0.99 points to 800.11.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks inched lower Thursday morning as investors weighed a drop in weekly jobless claims, a narrower-than-expected U.S. deficit and sliding commodity prices.
The Dow Jones industrial average gave back 46.70 points to 10,520.63. The S&P 500 index faded 5.91 points to 1,139.70, and the Nasdaq composite stepped back 9.87 points to 2,349.08.
U.S. stocks have been lackluster this week as investors stepped back to mull what direction markets are headed. On Wednesday, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq managed to carve out modest gains.
Analysts have been saying that the markets will continue to drift in a narrow range.
Economically speaking, the Labor Department reported that weekly jobless claims fell to 462,000 in the week ended March 6.
The number of new unemployment filers was expected to have fallen to 460,000, according to a consensus of economist forecasts from Briefing.com.
But the number of people filing continuing claims rose to 4,558,000 in the week ended Feb. 27, the most recent data available. That was up 37,000 from the preceding week's upwardly revised 4,521,000 claims.
Also, the Census Bureau reported that the trade gap narrowed to $37.3 billion in January, from the revised figure of $39.9 billion the prior month.
This was significantly less than expected. The bureau was forecast to report that the January trade gap widened to $41 billion U.S. from $40.2 billion U.S. in December.
A report on foreclosure rates showed an increase on a year-over-year basis but the pace slowed.
Foreclosures were up 6% in February from a year earlier, marking the smallest jump since
RealtyTrac began calculating year-over-year increases in January 2006.
Treasury prices slipped, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.74% from 3.72% late Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil lopped off 56 cents to $81.53 U.S.
Gold prices tacked on two dollars at $1,110 U.S.
