A.M. market numbers: December 30, 2009

| North American markets | International markets | Bonds | Currency | Commodities |

The Toronto stock market headed for a lower open Wednesday as a stronger American dollar pulled down oil and bullion prices and 2009 trading winds down.

The Canadian dollar moved down 0.45 of a cent to 95.35 cents US.

U.S. futures also pointed to a negative open with the Dow Jones industrial futures 50 points lower to 10,437, the Nasdaq futures fell 7.75 points to 1,864.75 and the S&P 500 futures dropped 4.5 points to 1,117.2.

The weak showing follows a similar performance Tuesday as reports on U.S. home prices and consumer confidence failed to galvanize investors. While the reports showed improvement, they painted a picture of a slowly recovering U.S. economy and were largely in line with expectations.

With the TSX up about 30% this year and the S&P 500 ahead almost 25%, many investors have closed their books and are making few moves ahead of the start of 2010. With fewer traders in the market, price swings can be exaggerated.

Energy stocks could be under pressure as the February crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange stepped back 19 cents to US$78.68 a barrel.

The February gold contract on the Nymex declined $4.90 to US$1,093.20 an ounce while the March copper contract in New York gained two cents to US$3.34 a pound.

Overseas, Asian markets fluctuated, with Japan’s benchmark flat as shares of Japan Airlines plummeted amid fears the beleaguered carrier could end up in bankruptcy proceedings as part of a turnaround plan.

Stocks in Asia and other fast-growing regions have risen massively in 2009 and investors are reluctant to take on more risk.

"Markets have … shot up too much, and there’s a reluctance to invest any more," said Linus Yip, a strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock average fell 0.9%, to 10,546.44, with shares of JAL tumbling 32% at one point to a new low. Its stock closed down 24%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was flat.

London’s FTSE 100 index was down 0.34%, Frankfurt’s DAX was off 0.58% while the Paris CAC 40 declined 0.53%.

In corporate news, the Bank of Nova Scotia has increased its stake in Xi’an City Commercial Bank to 14.8%, with plans to eventually hold 20% of the Chinese bank.

Scotiabank will invest a total of $162 million to hold the maximum stake allowed for foreign bank investments in China, the bank announced Wednesday.

The U.K. Takeover Panel said Wednesday that it had extended the deadline for Kraft Foods Inc. to disclose any new information about its hostile bid to acquire British chocolate and candy maker Cadbury PLC.

Kraft, which has made a cash and shares offer worth 9.8 billion pounds (US$16.3 billion), had faced a deadline of Jan. 12 for disclosing new information, but the Takeover Panel agreed to extend that to Jan. 15 to allow Kraft to publish estimated 2008 results.

Shareholders of Castle Gold Corp. have tendered 91% of the company’s stock to Argonaut Gold Inc., which offered $1.29 cash each in a deal valued at $102 million. Argonaut plans to acquire remaining shares in first quarter of 2010.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	10,545.41	-1.67 or -0.02%	+20.16%
S&P 500	1,126.20	-1.58 or -0.14%	+24.68%
NASDAQ	2,288.40	-2.68 or -0.12%	+45.11%
TSX Composite	11,701.81	-42.80 or -0.45%	+30.20%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	10,546.44	-91.62 or -0.86%	+19.04%
Hang Seng	21,496.62	-2.82 or -0.01%	+49.41%
SENSEX	17,343.82	-57.74 or -0.33%	+79.78%
FTSE 100	5,415.21	-22.40 or -0.41%	+22.12%
CAC 40	3,940.07	-19.91 or -0.50%	+22.44%
DAX	5,957.43	-54.12 or -0.90%	+23.85%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	100.88	101.31	3.64
Cdn. 30-year bond	114.53	115.17	4.11
U.S. 10-year bond	96.67	96.14	3.78
U.S. 30-year bond	95.89	94.94	4.63

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9535	0.9626
US $	1.0488	1.0388

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6648	0.6665
Euro	1.5043	1.5004

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$1,092.50	$1,085.25

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$78.61	-$0.26 or -0.33%

(12/30/09)