TSX Fights Back Into Positive Territory -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks are edging higher Friday later morning, as lower crude oil prices and worries over the health of eurozone banking industry are weighing on the market.

However, an encouraging report on U.S. new home sales is aiding sentiment.

Investors are looking ahead to the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting next week.

Despite recent upbeat economic reports, it is widely expected that the Fed may not hike interest rates anytime soon. Also, there are indications that the Fed may delay the end of its asset buying program.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 63.52 points or 0.44 percent at 14,550.35, after having declined to 14,436.64 earlier. The index looks set to end the week with a gain of over 1.5 percent.

On Thursday, the index Index closed up 174.76 points or 1.22 percent at 14,486.83, after scaling a intraday high of 14,529.13 and a low of 14,384.53.

The Financial Index is up 0.25 percent. Among big six banks, Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) is up 0.6 percent and National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) is advancing 0.6 percent, while the rest of them are little changed from previous closing levels.

Power Corporation of Canada (POW.TO) and Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) are up 0.7 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Consumer staples stocks are moving higher, driving the index tracking their movements up by nearly 2 percent. Loblaw Companies Limited (L.TO) is rising over 3.5 percent and Metro Inc. (MRU.TO) is moving up 3 percent, while Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (ATD.B.TO),Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (MFI.TO), George Weston Limited (WN.TO) and Empire Company Limited (EMP.A.TO) are up 1.3 to 2 percent.

The Consumer Discretionary Index is up 0.75 percent. Magna International Inc. (MG.TO), Thomson Reuters Corporation (TRI.TO) and Amaya Gaming Group Inc. (AYA.TO) are moving up 1.3 to 1.7 percent.

The Information Technology Index is up 0.75 percent. Open Text Corporation (OTC.TO) is moving up over 2 percent, Celestica Inc. (CLS.TO) is rising 2 percent and CGI Group Inc. (GIB.A.TO) is up 1.2 percent.

The Utilities Index is up nearly 1 percent. TransAlta Corporation (TA.TO) is advancing 1.5 percent, Canadian Utilities (CU.TO) is up 1.2 percent and ATCO Ltd. (ACO.X.TO) is up nearly 1 percent.

The Energy Index is down 1.5 percent. Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNQ.TO), Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE.TO), ARC Resources Ltd. (ARX.TO), Canadian Oil Sands Limited (COS.TO) and Canadian Oil Sands Limited (COS.TO) are up declining 1 to 2.2 percent.

Kelt Exploration (KEL.TO) is down 2.7 percent, Athabasca Oil Corporation (ATH.TO) is down nearly 4 percent and Bellatrix Corporation (BXE.TO) is lower by 4.3 percent.

Enbridge Inc. (ENB) is up 0.6 percen. The company said in a regulatory filing that its design for the Line 9 pipeline through southern Ontario has the right shut-off valve configuration to minimize the risk to waterways and reservoirs in the event of a rupture. Enbridge was responding to the National Energy Board's decision to delay a restart of the pipeline because the company has not met one of the the conditions attached to the NEB's approval of the project.

The Diversified Metals and Mining Index is down 1.2 percent with First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ.TO) and HudBay Minerals (HBM.TO) declining 1.7 to 2 percent.

The Capped Materials Index is up 0.3 percent. Agrium Inc. (AGU.TO) is rising nearly 8 percent and Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. (POT.TO) is moving up 3.7 percent.

MTY Food Group Inc. (MTY.TO) is up nearly 2 percent after the company announced that its subsidiaries will buy a group that operates Manchu Wok, Wasabi Grill & Noodle and SenseAsian restaurants in Canada and in the United States for $7.9 million.

Meanwhile, Goldcorp Inc. (G.To), Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) and Silver Wheaton Corp. (SLW.TO) are down 0.6 to 1.5 percent. B2Gold Corp. (BTO.TO) is declining 1.7 percent.

In commodities, crude oil futures for December are down $0.90 or 1.1 percent at $81.19 a barrel.

Natural gas for November is down $0.047 or 1.30 percent at $3.575 per million btu.

Gold futures for December are up $1.30 or 0.11 percent at $1,230.20 an ounce.

Silver for December is up $0.010 or 0.06 percent at $17.168 an ounce. Meanwhile, copper is up $0.006 or 1.19 percent at $3.046 per pound.

According to a report from the U.S. Commerce Department, new home sales inched up 0.2 percent to an annualised rate of 467,000 in September from the revised August rate of 466,000. Economists expected new home sales to drop to a rate of 460,000 from the 504,000 originally reported for the previous month.

In economic news from eurozone, German consumer confidence index rose slightly to 8.5 in November, up from 8.4 in the preceding month, a report from market research group GfK showed. The score was forecast to fall to 8.

There are concerns about about the health of eurozone banking industry with reports from Spanish new agency Efe indicating that eleven banks from six euro zone countries are set to fail the stress tests, with the results due on Sunday.