Roger Biduk; Bay Street Higher at Midday

Roger Biduk writes:

Investors snapped up beaten down shares in the commodity and financial sectors late in the morning, sending the Toronto stock market higher for a sixth session.
Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index was also off early levels but was still ahead 52.36 points to 9,337.87.
The CDN$ moved up 0.77 cent to 84.8 cents US after higher oil helped boost the loonie up about one and three-quarters cents Monday.
The TSX Venture Exchange climbed 11.1 points to 885.59.

The TSX energy sector has been a star performer in early 2009, already up more than seven per cent since Dec. 31 and was up another 1.25 per cent Tuesday morning.
Crude oil has surged 25 per cent in the past week amid signs OPEC is implementing production cuts while Israel's offensive in Gaza keeps tensions high in the oil-rich Middle East.
But the February crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange backed off late in the morning after rising as high as US$50.47, down 77 cents to US$49.82.
TSX energy sector winners included Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX: SU.TO) ahead $1.27 to $28.67. But sector leader EnCana Corp. (TSX: ECA.TO) lost early momentum to move down 95 cents to $61.47.

In Canadian economic news, the prices of products leaving the factory gate dropped by a record amount in November, along with the cost of raw materials, as oil prices plummeted. Statistics Canada said the November industrial product price index fell 2.6 per cent and the raw materials price index dropped 13.4 per cent.

The base-metals sector ran ahead 4.5 per cent with Sherritt International (TSX: S.TO) ahead 43 cents to $4.42 and FNX Mining (TSX: FNX.TO) up 49 cents to $4.39 while Teck Cominco Ltd. (TSX: TCK-B.TO) shed 32 cents to $7.88.

The financial sector edged up 1.5 per cent with Bank of Montreal (TSX: BMO.TO) ahead 69 cents to $33.32. Shares in Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY, NYSE:RY) climbed 29 cents to $37.50 after it said it is issuing $200 million worth of preferred shares paying 6.25 per cent. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSX: TD.TO) Monday announced it was issuing preferred shares to raise $225 million. Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (TSX: FFH.TO) shares added $1.69 to $364.72 after it raised its annual dividend to US$8 per share from $5.

Roger Biduk writes:
The telecom sector was the major decliner on the TSX as shares in Rogers Communications Inc. (TSX: RCI.TO) were down $2.25 to $34.94 after the company said Apple's iPhone helped boost the number of new wireless subscribers to 199,000 in the fourth quarter of 2008.

The gold sector is also a drag, down 1.4 per cent as the February bullion contract on the Nymex gave back $11.60 to US$846.20. Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX: ABX.TO) declined $1.30 to $39.48.

Dow Chemical Co. said it will pursue legal action against a state-owned Kuwaiti company that pulled out of a joint venture last week. Dow had expected to get more than $7 billion in cash from the transaction with Petrochemical Industries Co., some of which would have helped pay off its $15.3 billion buyout of Philadelphia-based Rohm & Haas Co.

In Asian trading, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.4 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dipped 0.4 per cent. Britain's FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX index rose 0.8 per cent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.43 per cent.

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