Another article from CANOE this evening which mentions Quebec election and new S&P/TSE 60.
December 1, 1998
Toronto Stock Market
Relieved investors send Toronto stocks higher
TORONTO, Dec. 1 (Reuters) - Investors heaved a sigh of relief that sent Toronto's stock market much higher on Tuesday, after Monday's Quebec election failed to give the separatist Parti Quebecois party as strong a majority as had been feared.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's main 300 Composite Index climbed 113.27 points or 1.8 percent to close at 6457.14.
Despite the benchmark index's gains, declining issues beat out advancing ones 543 to 479 on the broader market. Another 262 stocks closed steady.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 16.99 points to 9133.54.
Toronto opened weaker, then flipped into positive turf by midday. "It was a bullish reversal," said Katherine Beattie, analyst at Standard and Poor's MMS International. "It wasn't as bad as feared....The PQ didn't win by a huge margin and we had a relief rally."
The incumbent PQ won a majority, with 75 seats in the 125-seat provincial legislature, to 48 for the opposition Liberals. But the Liberals won the popular vote by one percentage point.
Fred Ketchen, ScotiaMcLeod's director of equity trading, attributed some of the gains to the surprise Quebec election numbers. "I think our market has underperformed (New York). There is reasonable value out here and now I think some of the recognition is starting to show up now."
Beattie added that the stock exchange was set to reveal a new index late on Tuesday, the S&P/TSE 60 Index, which meant fund managers were snapping up the relevant issues ahead of the announcement. "The TSE 60 will be unveiled tonight and the stocks in that got a boost."
All 14 sub-groups but one, oil and gas, tracked upward.
The oil sector slipped as producers have failed to take fresh action to relieve a severe glut.
Gains were led by the TSE 300's heavily weighted financial services sector, which rose 3.5 percent. The sector suffered recent losses.
In the bank group, Royal Bank of Canada was up C$2.50 to C$78 and Toronto-Dominion Bank rose C$2.40 to C$53.75.
Financial services was followed by 2-percent jumps in transportation, media and consumer products.
Bid.Com International Inc. topped the most actives group again, as it has for most days in the past two weeks. Stock in the online auctioneer slipped C$0.24 to C$4.23 following a scorching rally recently.
Corel shares rose C$0.03 to C$3.98 after announcing it settled a lawsuit with former Hollywood movie queen Hedy Lamarr. The suit alleged the software maker had misappropriated her image by slapping a software-created likeness on a product's packaging.
Corel did not disclose the terms.
($1=$1.53 Canadian)
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