TORONTO (Reuters) -
The Toronto Stock Exchange's main index
rose broadly and sharply on Monday in a rally sparked early in
the day by record commodity prices and sustained later by gains
in the financial and tech sectors.
A record high for corn prices amid widespread flooding in
the U.S. Midwest pushed up shares of fertilizer companies
Potash Corp of Saskatchewan and Agrium, making them among the
biggest gainers on the benchmark.
Potash Corp was up C$3.55, or 1.5 percent, at C$235.67,
while Agrium rose C$1.84, or 1.7 percent, to C$108.30, helping
push Toronto's materials group up 1.7 percent.
Tech heavyweight Research In Motion also lent its support,
jumping C$7.42, or 5.4 percent, to C$144.21. Nokia unveiled two
new business phones, but investors did not see the offerings as
a threat to RIM's BlackBerry.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 165.82 points, or
1.12 percent, at 14,944.28 with all but two of its 10 main
sectors rising.
The flooding across Iowa and Illinois - the worst in 15
years - stoked fears of crop losses in the United States, the
world's top grain exporter.
"It certainly seems like the crop is in big, big trouble,"
said Levente Mady, broker at MF Global Canada, in Vancouver.
"A lot of fertilizers and previous plantings have been
washed away by the floods, so demand is going to be just huge
for the agriculture and fertilizer sector, and obviously that's
being reflected in (the stocks)."
Oil prices hit a record high near $140 a barrel early on
Monday but then retreated to end lower as Saudi Arabia looked
prepared to boost production.
Toronto oil and gas shares held on to a gain of 0.2
percent, with Canadian Natural Resources up 66 Canadian cents,
or 0.6 percent, at C$104.75, and Canadian Oil Sands Trust
gaining C$1.06, or 2 percent, to C$53.80.
EnCana Corp said it had established a leading position in
gas shale ventures in Canada and the United States, lifting its
stock C$1.51, or 1.6 percent, to C$95.21.
The financial sector rose 1.3 percent as U.S. investment
bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc posted a big quarterly loss,
as it had forecast last week. The sector saw some relief as
investors hoped banks were coming closer to cleaning up their
balance sheets.
Among Canadian banks - which generally have not had losses
as big as those of their foreign rivals - Canadian Imperial
Bank of Commerce was up C$1.40, or 2.2 percent, at C$64.85, and
Toronto-Dominion Bank gained 92 Canadian cents, or 1.4 percent,
to C$68.77.
"The Canadian banks are in way better shape," said Paul
Harris, portfolio manager at Avenue Investment Management.
"They may have writeoffs as well, but certainly not at the
level of all these other institutions in the United States."
Market volume was 297 million shares worth C$6.2 billion.
Advancers outpaced decliners 882 to 689. The blue chip S&P/TSX
60 index closed up 10.34 points, or 1.2 percent, at 892.06.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average slipped 38.27
points, or 0.31 percent, to 12,269.08 amid broker downgrades.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 20.28 points, or
0.83 percent, to 2,474.78, with help from technology stocks
including Research In Motion.
($1=$1.02 Canadian)
(Editing by Peter Galloway)