Roger Biduk; Bay Street Soars on Oil & Financials

Roger Biduk writes:

Today’s headline is exactly the opposite of yesterday’s.
Here we go again. Down 300 points one day, up 250 the next. Looks like volatility is back in the market and that’s what makes money for active investors.

The Toronto stock market ended a volatile session sharply higher thanks to late day bounces in financial and energy stocks, which helped to claw back a good-sized chunk of the previous day's losses.

Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index, down well over 100 points at one point in the session, charged ahead 252.96 points to 8,757.89 following a 337-point tumble on Tuesday.
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 5.13 points to 851.55, while the Canadian dollar rose 0.74 cent to 79.63 cents US.

The market got off to a solid start for the year but a series of losses and rising pessimism about global economies threaten to send the TSX to the 7,727-point low established in November.
Further signs of economic weakness surfaced as Statistics Canada reported that wholesale sales fell 1.6 per cent in November to $44.4 billion as decreases in four of seven sectors contributed to the third decline in four months.

The TSX energy sector shook off early losses to climb 4.3 per cent as the March crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange added $2.71 to US$43.55 a barrel. Natural gas closed 2.55% higher at $4.78.
Gainers included Suncor (SU) soaring 11.22% to $24.58. Addax Petroleum (ACX) jumped 8.96% to $19.45. TriStar Oil & Gas (TOG) gained 8.28% to $10.85. Highpine Oil & Gas (HPX) higher by 8.05% to $4.70. Major Drilling Group Int’l (MDI) rose 6.92% to $12.83. Niko Res. (NKO) rose 6.45% to $47.02. Talisman Energy (TLM) gained 6.12% to $11.80. Paramount Res. (POU) up 5.11% to $7.61. Baytex Energy Trust (BTE.UN) up 5.16% to $15.49.
Precision Drilling Trust (TSX:PD.UN) units inched up three cents to $7.55 after the company said it is cutting its cash distribution for January to four cents a unit from the 13 cents paid out in December. The company said the reduction reflects "a sharp reduction in United States rig demand resulting from the steep decline in energy commodity prices over the past three months."
Decliners include Total Energy Services Trust (TOT.UN) sinking 5.16% to $3.86. Pacific Rubiales Energy (PRE) down 5.56% to $2.55. Stoneham Drilling Trust (SDG.UN) lower by 5.63% to $3.02. Pembina Pipeline Income (PIF.UN) down 5.93% to $14.27. Cathedral Energy Services (CET.UN) dropping 6.58% to $5.11. Trinidad Drilling (TDG) sinking 6.59% to $3.40. Pantera Drilling Income Trust (RIG.UN) tanking 7.43% to $2.49.

Roger Biduk
The metals and mining sector jumped 3.14% as copper lost 4.72% to $1.53. Silver rose 1.34% to $11.33. Aluminum slumped 4.28% to $.64. Platinum lost $21.70 to $921.60.
BHP Billiton announced plans to slash 6,000 jobs, or about six per cent of its global work force, as it rushes to cope with plummeting demand because of the global financial crisis.
Osisko Mining (OSK) rose 6.58%. Inmet Mining (IMN) gained 5.91%. Sherritt Int’l. (S) up by 5.15% to $3.88 and Ivanhoe Mines (IVN) rising 5.13% to $3.69.
Decliners include Altius Minerals (ALS) lower by 5.53% to $4.44. Silver Wheaton (SLW.WT.B) down by 5.63% to $2.85. Comaplex Minerals (CMF) down by 7.67%.

The gold sector rose 2.54% as the February bullion contract in New York dropped $5.10 to US$855.20 an ounce.
Gainers include Moto Goldmines (MGL) soared 13.04% to 2.34%. Aquine Res. (AQI) rose 6.82% to $2.82%. NovaGold Res. (NG) jumped 6.57% to $2.27.
Kinross Gold Corp. (TSX:K) shares were down $1.11 to $22 after the company said it plans to raise up to US$360.5 million through an issue of 20.9 million common shares at a price of $17.25 a share.
Decliners include Complex Minerals (CMF) lower by 7.67% to $3.13.

The information technology sector jumped 4.56% and the telecom sector gained 1.32%.
CryptoLogic (CRY) soared 14.71%. Aastra Tech. (AAH) jumped 8.40% to $11.48. BCE (BCE.PR.S) higher by 6.17% to $14.97. Absolute Software (ABT) gained 6.07% to $3.32. CGI Group (GIB.A) higher by 5.96% to $9.43. Research in motion (RIM) up 5.95% to $66.75. Mosaid Tech. (MSD) up 5.88% to $9.91.
Descartes Systems (DSG) lost 5.29% to $3.22.

Financials rebounded 4.33%. Royal Bank (TSX:RY) rose $1.28 to $32.12 and Scotiabank (TSX:BNS) gained $1.12 to $29.70. Both banks announced Wednesday they plan to raise $200 million by issuing preferred shares.
Franco-Nevada (FNV) rising 7.61% to $21.50. Coverntree (COF) jumped 18.84% to $4.10. Brookfield Properties (BPO) gained 10.46% to $7.18. Canadian Western Bank (CWB) up 8.42% to $12.10. Manulife (MFC) higher by 7.56% to $21.63. Boralex Power Income (BPT.UN) up 7.42% to $3.91. Sun Life Financial (SLF) up 6.65% to $25.50. Brompton Split Banc (SBC) up 6.58% to $3.89. DundeeWealth (DW) higher by 5.09% to $5.78.
Decliners include Wall Financial (WFC) tanking 21.70% to $7.00. Dividend Growth Split (DGS) sinkunf 10.18% to $3.00. Morguard Real Estate Development (MRT.UN) losing 7.63% to $10.05. Livingston Int’l (LIV.UN) lower by 7.48% to $6.31. Fort Chicago Energy Partners (FCE.UN) down 6.42% to $7.72.

Roger Biduk
Consumer discretionary was up 1.00% and consumer staples were up 2.09%.
Viterra (VT) soared 13.90% to $9.34. Domtar (UFS) jumped 12.23% to $2.11. AlarmForce Industries (AF) gained 5.97% to $4.08. Maple Leaf foods (MFI) up 5.84% to $10.88. Linamar (LNR) up 5.66% to $4.11.

The healthcare sector was up 1.96%.
Biovail (BVF) gained 6.82% to $14.09.
Transition Therapeutics (TTH) lost 5.42% to $5.41. Novadaq Tech. (NDQ) down 7.37% to $2.01.

The industrial sector was up 3.18%.
IPL (IPL.A) jumped 19.47% to $2.70. West Fraser timber (WFT) gained 6.11% to $29.18.
Vector Aerospace (RNO) lost 5.88% to $4.00. Marsules (MLX) down 7.91% to $8.50. Nova Chemical Corp. (TSX:NCX) shares got hammered, down $1.60 or 26.5 per cent to $4.45 over investor concerns the company will not be able to meet a debt payment due this spring.

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