MARKET ACITIVITY/TRADING NOTES FOR DAY ENDING FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 1998 (1)
MARKET WATCH
Bay Street continued to lose ground as a slide in the financial services sector outweighed gains by telco stocks. Wall Street bounced back to set another record on the strength of drug makers.
Canadian stocks fell, led by the major banks, after a merger between Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Toronto-Dominion Bank undermined optimism for more mergers and takeovers in the industry.
The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index fell 39.16 points, or 0.5%, to 7764.75. Volume was 110 million shares, compared with 130 million on Thursday.
Friday's loss capped a week that saw the index climb 144.11 points, or 1.9%, and hit a record high Wednesday.
About 110.5 million shares changed hands on the TSE, compared with 130.3 million shares traded Thursday.
CIBC shares (cm/tse) fell $3.10 to $55 while TD stock (td/tse) fell $4 to $69. Both banks fell from records after they agreed to merge in a $43-billion stock swap.
Stocks may be mixed in coming days as investors use a wave of first-quarter earnings from companies like Northern Telecom Inc., Bombardier Inc. and Inco Ltd. to help gauge the outlook for profit growth.
Nortel shares (NTL/TSE) rose $1.45 to $92.90, Bombardier (BBDa/TSE) climbed $1.05 to $35.80 and Inco (N/TSE) fell 25› to $26.20.
BCE Inc. (bce/tse) fell 5› to $59, after earlier touching an intraday record of $60.05. Call-Net (cn/tse) rose 50› to $27.50.
Bruncor Inc. (brr/tse) rose 75› to $29.50 after it said it will buy 94% of Maritime Information Technology Inc. for $22.6 million in cash and shares.
Among industrials, Fairfax gained $34.00 to $565.00; Ballard Power lost $4.55 to $154.00.
Gold stocks declined as the price of bullion fell US40› to $307.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Barrick Gold Corp. (abx/tse) lost 65› to $30.45 and Placer Dome Inc. (pdg/tse) fell 40› to $19.50.
Other Canadian markets ended mixed. The Montreal Exchange portfolio fell 27.26 points, or 0.7%, to 3912.59. For the week, it rose 72.71 points or 1.9%. The Vancouver Stock Exchange rose 5.62 points, or 0.9%, to 637.39. It was almost unchanged with a 0.61-point gain on the week.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 90.93 points, or 1%, to a record 9167.5. It rose 172.64 points, or 1.9%, for the week.
About 666.8 million shares changed hands on the Big Board, compared with about 702 million shares traded on Thursday.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 14.55 points, or 1.3%, to 1122.72 - also a record - and was up 12.05 points, or 1.1%, on the week.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 8.36 points, or 0.5%, to a record 1866.6. It rose 46.36 points, or 2.5%, on the week.
"The sector rotation is fast and furious," said Ken Feinberg, a money manager with Davis Select Advisors. "We're still in the heat of a bull market. Money has to be put to work."
American Express Co. (Axp/nyse) soared US$41 1/8 to US$106 1/2 on speculation that it is a takeover target.
Eli Lilly & Co. (lly/nyse) gained almost 8%, rallying US$5 3/8 to US$68 5/8, on expectations that a new study will show its Evista drug helps prevent cancer.
The stock rose after the release of a summary of the study's findings, which showed positive initial results.
Pfizer Inc. (pfe/nyse), which is developing a similar drug, gained US$4 9/16 to US$105 1/8. Johnson & Johnson (jnj/nyse) rose US$21 11/16 to US$72 1/16.
Major international markets ended mixed.
London: British shares fell for a fourth straight session, unsettled by weakness in Asian markets. The FT-SE 100 index closed at 5922.2, down 79.8 points, or 1.3%. The benchmark fell 183.3 points, or 3%, on the week.
Frankfurt: German stocks climbed in late trade but still lost ground in the session. The Dax closed at 5268.75, down 55.39 points or 1%. It fell 48.47 points, or 0.9%, on the week.
Hong Kong: Stocks dropped sharply as investor confidence was dented by a weaker Japanese yen. The Hang Seng index closed at 11,001.32, down 186.46 points, or 1.7%, a fall of 340.7 points, or 3%, from a week ago.
Tokyo: Japanese stocks ended weaker on growing pessimism over the effectiveness of Japan's economic stimulus package. The 225-share Nikkei average closed at 15,703.8, down 179.97 points, or 1.1%, and down 832.86 points, or 5%, from last Friday.
Sydney: The Australian stock market snapped its three-day record breaking streak as local traders caught their breath from impressive post-Easter gains. The all ordinaries index closed at 2867.5, down 13.9 points, or 0.5%, but up 61.7 points, or 2.2%, on the week.
Taipei: Share prices closed lower as investors remained concerned over the weakness of technology stocks. The market's key Weighted Stock Price Index fell 160.72 points, or 1.83 percent, to 8,619.49.
Wellington: New Zealand share prices closed lower, with brokers saying profit-taking in leading stocks pushed the index into negative territory, following a decline in the U.S. share market overnight. The NZSE-40 Capital Index fell 17.16 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,317.86.
Manilia: Share prices closed lower, capping a week of lackluster trading. The Philippine Stock Exchange index of 30 selected stocks fell 8.45 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,176.10.
Seoul: Share prices closed lower on worries over a strike at at Kia Motors Corp., dealers said. The key Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 3.92 points, or 0.8 percent, to 450.23.
Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian share prices closed generally higher on a technical rebound, but the key index slipped marginally because of decline in some blue chip stocks. The Composite Index, which tracks share prices of 100 key stocks, slipped 0.56 of a point to 628.78.
Bangkok: Thai share prices closed higher on bargain-hunting following Thursday's sharp losses because of jitters over the Japanese economy. The Stock Exchange of Thailand index rose 7.36 points, or 1.7 percent, to 438.99.
Singapore: Share prices closed mixed. The benchmark Straits Times Industrial Index closed unchanged at unchanged at 1,515.15 points.
Jakarta: Share prices closed lower for the fifth consecutive day on continued selling pressure in some blue-chip telecommunication issues. The Composite Index fell 2.166 points, or 0.4 percent, to 507.902. |
