Market numbers: Wednesday, June 24, 2009

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

Investors will be looking to see if the Toronto stock market can extend a modest gain following a warning of a weak economic recovery while taking in a major deal in the Canadian oilpatch.

Addax Petroleum Corp. (TSX:AXC) said Wednesday it has reached a deal that will see it acquired by Chinese oil and gas giant Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corp. for $8.27 billion. The wholly-owned subsidiary of China Petrochemical Corp. will pay $52.80 per share. Its shares closed Tuesday at $45.65.

Overall, the energy sector could be in for a lower open with the August crude contract in New York down 79 cents to US$68.45 a barrel.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.41 of a cent to 87.17 cents US.

The Toronto stock market finished up 62.54 points Tuesday, clawing back a small portion of the 454-point plunge of the previous session. That selloff was sparked by a World Bank report that global economic contraction this year would be worse than thought.

On Wednesday, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (CD) said that the deepest global recession in more than 60 years is close to bottoming out. But it warned recovery will be weak unless governments take further action to remove uncertainty over banks’ balance sheets.

In its half-yearly economic outlook, the Paris-based organization said it expects its member countries’ economies to shrink by 4.1% this year, with only government rescue measures heading off an even worse decline.

U.S. futures indicated a slightly higher open on New York markets following a weak showing on Tuesday as investors hope for reassuring words from the Federal Reserve.

The central bank will wrap up its scheduled meeting on interest rates at mid-afternoon.

The Fed is widely expected to leave its key rate unchanged at a range of zero to 0.25%. Its outlook for the economy, however, is less clear.

Many investors bought into the market rally that started in early March on hopes for a late-year economic recovery.

Before the market’s open, Dow futures rose 34, or 0.4%, to 8,291. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 4.30, or 0.5%, to 894.50, and Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 5.25, or 0.4%, to 1,429.25.

Overseas stock prices were also higher.

Japan’s Nikkei stock average gained 0.4% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 2%.

Britain’s FTSE 100 was 0.3% higher, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.9 per cent, and France’ s CAC-40 climbed 0.9%.

In other corporate news, software maker Oracle Corp.’s results for its latest quarter topped Wall Street’s forecast Tuesday, despite a five % drop in sales and a seven % decline in profit. The company blamed the declines on the effects of a stronger U.S. dollar, which makes deals done in other currencies translate into fewer greenbacks. Companies also have been shelling out less for new software because of the recession.

Canadian dairy company Saputo Inc. (TSX:SAP) said Tuesday it has signed a deal to buy cheesemaker F&A Dairy of California Inc. Terms of the deal were not immediately available.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets

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	Close	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	8,322.91	-16.10 or -0.19%	-5.17%
S&P 500	895.10	+2.06 or +0.23%	-0.90%
NASDAQ	1,764.92	-1.27 or -0.07%	+11.91%
TSX Composite	9,896.72	+62.54 or +0.64%	+10.11%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	9,590.32	40.71 or 0.43%	+8.25%
Hang Seng	17,892.15	+353.78 or +2.02%	+24.36%
SENSEX	14,422.73	+98.72 or +0.69%	+49.50%
FTSE 100	4,241.18	+11.16 or +0.26%	-4.35%
CAC 40	3,143.81	+26.99 or +0.87%	-2.30%
DAX	4,748.83	+41.68 or +0.89%	-1.28%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	102.73	102.68	3.42
Cdn. 30-year bond	119.04	118.59	3.88
U.S. 10-year bond	95.72	95.25	3.64
U.S. 30-year bond	97.89	96.72	4.38

Currency

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BoC Open	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.8717	0.8696
US $	1.1471	1.1500

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6216	0.6178
Euro	1.6089	1.6187

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$ 928.75	$920.75

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$ 68.43	-$0.81 or -1.17%

(06/24/09)