P.M. market numbers: October 13, 2009

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

The Toronto stock market closed slightly lower Tuesday, supported by commodity stocks on advancing oil prices and record high gold prices and pulled down by financial stocks in the wake of a downgrade in the American banking sector.

Trading was also sluggish following a disappointing earnings report from U.S. health-care giant Johnson & Johnson and the market was left struggling for traction after a strong advance last week.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed well above session lows, coming back from a 137-point decline to close down 23.38 points to 11,413.54. Strong gains in mining and energy companies pushed the TSX up 4.36 % last week.

Meanwhile, rising commodity prices, a weak U.S. currency and a strong employment report for last month combined Tuesday to send the Canadian dollar to its highest level since the late summer of 2008.

The loonie closed up 0.73 of a cent from Friday’s close at 96.48 cents US after going as high as 97.42 cents US, its highest level since August 2008. The currency also surged 3.37 cents US last week.

The TSX financial sector moved down 1.57% in the wake of a downgrade of Goldman Sachs Group by analyst Meredith Whitney to neutral from buy after the stock posted steep gains since the company reported earnings for the second quarter. Goldman shares drifted $2.92 lower to US$187.23.

The downgrade came ahead of quarterly reports from some of the largest U.S. banks this week. JPMorgan Chase & Co. will issue its report on Wednesday, followed by Goldman Sachs and Citigroup Inc. on Thursday, and Bank of America Corp. on Friday.

Better-than-expected first-quarter results from banks set off the stock market’s rally seven months ago, and even better second-quarter results helped re-ignite the rally in July.

The Dow Jones industrials was 14.74 points lower to 9,871.06 after rising about four per cent last week.

The Nasdaq composite index gained 0.75 of a point to 2,139.89 while the S&P 500 index fell 3.01 points to 1,073.18.

Other commodity prices were mixed with December gold on the Nymex ahead $7.50 to a record US$1,065 an ounce as the U.S. dollar hit a fresh 14-month low while copper backed off 6.25 cents at $2.79 a pound.

The gold sector rose 1.2 %.

(THE CANADIAN PRESS)

North American markets

Back to Top

	Close	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	9,871.06	-14.74 or -0.15%	+12.47%
S&P 500	1,073.19	-3.00 or -0.28%	+18.81%
NASDAQ	2,139.89	+0.75 or +0.04%	+35.69%
TSX Composite	11,413.54	-23.38 or -0.20%	+26.99%

International markets

Back to Top

	Close	Change	YTD
Nikkei	10,076.56	+60.17 or +0.60%	+13.06%
Hang Seng	21,467.36	+168.01 or +0.79%	+49.43%
SENSEX	17,026.67	+384.01 or +2.31%	+72.51%
FTSE 100	5,154.15	-56.02 or -1.08%	+16.24%
CAC 40	3,801.39	-44.41 or -1.15%	+18.13%
DAX	5,714.31	-68.92 or -1.19%	+18.80%

Bonds

Back to Top

Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	102.33	101.93	3.46
Cdn. 30-year bond	118.00	117.45	3.93
U.S. 10-year bond	102.53	102.01	3.32
U.S. 30-year bond	105.72	104.67	4.16

Currency

Back to Top

BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9647	0.9575
US $	1.0365	1.0444

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6506	0.6509
Euro	1.5370	1.5362

Commodities

Back to Top

Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$1064.50	$1057.50

Oil	Close	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$74.19	+$0.92 or +1.26%

(10/13/09)