After moving higher in the past four sessions to hit a freesh 18-month high, Canadian stocks were lingering in the red Wednesday morning as traders turned cautious ahead of an important U.S. vote to pass a short-term debt ceiling increase.
Meanwhile, Bank of Canada left its its key rates unchanged at 1 percent as widely expected and said the slowdown in the second half of 2012 was more pronounced than the Bank had anticipated, owing to weaker business investment and exports.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index slipped 20.69 points or 0.16 percent to 12,803.94, after gaining over 200 points or nearly 2 percent in the past four sessions
The price of gold moved lower Wednesday morning as the US dollar continued to trade weak versus a basket of currencies. Gold for February delivery edged down $5.60 to $1,687.60 an ounce.
Among gold stocks, Iamgold (IMG.TO) dived over 10 percent even after providing mineral resource update for Côté Gold and reporting strongest quarter for production in 2012 with confirmed production guidance for 2013.
Centerra Gold (CG.TO) was down over 6 percent
Aurizon Mines ( ARZ.TO) unanimously recommended that shareholders reject the hostile take-over bid received from Alamos Gold Inc. (AGI.TO). Alamos proposes to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Aurizon for C$4.65 per share. Shares of Alamos Gold eased 0.20 percent.
Chile focused copper miner Celestica Inc. (CLS.TO) slipped 0.50 percent after reporting lower fourth-quarter net earnings of $7.2 million or $0.04 per share compared to $69.2 million or $0.32 per share last year. Adjusted earnings for the quarter dropped to $50.3 million or $0.25 per share from $71.1 million or $0.33 per share last year. Analysts expected earnings of $0.19 per share for the quarter.
Among financial stocks, Scotiabank (BNS.TO), TD Bank (TD.TO) and Royal Bank (RY.TO) dipped around 1 percent each.
The price of crude oil was steady near its 4-month high Wednesday morning ahead of an important U.S. vote to pass a short-term debt ceiling increase. Crude for March eased $0.03 to $96.65 a barrel.
In the oil patch, MEG Energy (MEG.TO) and Tourmaline Oil (TOU.TO) moved up around 1 percent each.
Food retailer Metro Inc. (MRU.TO) moved up 1 percent after it said that it has agreed to sell a portion of its stake in convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (ATD_B.TO) for gross proceeds of C$479 million.
In economic news from the euro zone, Bank of England policymakers voted 8-1 to maintain the size of quantitative easing at GBP 375 billion, the minutes of the meeting showed Wednesday. David Miles sought an increase of GBP 25 billion to GBP 400 billion. The Monetary Policy Committee unanimously decided to retain the record low 0.50 percent interest rate.
The number of persons claiming jobless benefits in the UK declined unexpectedly in December, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showed The number of jobless claims or the claimant count declined by 12,100 from a month earlier to 1.56 million in December. Economists expected an increase of 500 claimants.
by RTT Staff Writer
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