By RTT News, February 25, 2013, 11:07:00 AM EDT
(RTTNews.com) - Canadian stocks were extending gains for a second session Monday morning as commodities rebound from their recent losses, with traders overlooking downbeat manufacturing data out of China and Moody's downgrade of UK bond rating.
Moody's Investors Service downgraded the nation's sovereign rating by one notch to Aa1 late Friday, while assigning 'stable' outlook. In a related action, the rating agency also lowered the ratings of the Bank of England to Aa1 from Aaa.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 91.60 points or 0.72 percent to 12,793.23, after adding about 0.50 percent in the previous session.
The price of gold was recovering from its recent losses Monday morning as the U.S. dollar was struggling to sustain recent gains, with traders awaiting cues from this week's macroeconomic data. Gold for April rebounded $11.90 to $1,584.70 an ounce.
Among gold plays, Detour Gold (DGC.TO) and Seabridge Gold (SEA.TO) jumped around 6 percent each, while Royal Gold (RGL.TO) was adding 3 percent. Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM.TO), Goldcorp. (G.TO) and Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) gathered around 2 percent each.
The price of crude oil was little changed Monday morning with the US dollar leveling off from its recent highs versus a basket of currencies. Crude for April easing $0.08 to $93.05 a barrel.
In the oil patch, MEG Energy (MEG.TO) and Suncor Energy (SU.TO) moved up around 2 percent each.
Among financial plays, TD Bank (TD.TO) and Scotiabank (BNS.TO) gathered around 1 percent each. Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) gained about 2 percent.
Onex Corp. (OCX.TO) and its affiliates or Onex Group announced that they have completed the sale of their 50 percent interest in RSI Home Products to the company for $323 million. The stock was up 0.50 percent.
Meanwhile, flag fleet of dry and liquid bulk carriers Algoma Central Corp. (ALC.TO) slipped 1 percent after reporting a lower fourth-quarter net earnings of C$24.5 million or C$0.60 per share compared to C$33.3 million or C$0.84 per share in the comparable quarter last year.
In economic news from the euro zone, U.K. mortgage approvals declined unexpectedly to 32,288 in January from 33,440 in the prior month, the British Bankers' Association said. It was forecast to rise to 34,000. At the same time, gross mortgage borrowing of GBP 7.7 billion in January was above the recent monthly average.
Italy's merchandise trade with countries outside the European Union (EU) resulted in a deficit in January compared to a surplus in the previous month, preliminary data released by statistical office Istat showed. The trade balance was a deficit of EUR2.28 billion in January, compared the EUR3.32 billion surplus recorded in December.
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