TORONTO - The Toronto stock market overcame steep losses to close higher Wednesday, supported in part by gold stocks as nervous investors pushed bullion to new highs while another raft of economic cast more doubt on the state of the U.S. economy.
The S&P/TSX composite index finished the session well off early lows, up 63.71 at 12,816.03 after earlier plunging as many as 184 points. The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 13.14 points to 1,965.72.
The Canadian dollar fell 0.25 of a cent to 103.89 cents US.
A run of grim U.S. economic data has stoked fears that the world's largest economy is growing far slower than anticipated and may be heading back toward recession.
A weak manufacturing survey from the Institute for Supply Management on Monday brought those concerns to the fore and were reinforced by another report Tuesday, which showed that American consumers cut back on spending in June for the first time in nearly two years.
Economic worries had pushed the TSX down 5.5 per cent over the last six sessions.
On Wednesday, investors took in data indicating that private sector job growth remained tepid in July.
The ADP employment report said that the sector created 114,000 jobs in July.
The data came out two days before the release of the U.S. government's non-farm payrolls report for July. Economists had expected the U.S. economy to create about 90,000 jobs last month.
"Given the recent history, most people would say, well if it's anything materially above 50,000, we would probably feel pretty good about it given the blow to confidence that we have seen over the past couple of weeks," said Robert Gorman, chief portfolio strategist at TD Waterhouse.
"In the short term, as long as you have ambiguity around (the economy), we will see a lot of treading water at best but I suspect it will be firmer as we get deeper into the year."
Meanwhile, investors were unimpressed with data on the health of the U.S. service sector. The ISM's non-manufacturing index came in at 52.7, down from 53.3 in June and worse than the 53.8 reading that economists had expected.
Another report showed that U.S. factory orders for June fell 0.8 per cent, worse than the 0.5 per cent decline that had been forecast.
The tech sector closed up 1.37 per cent while shares in Research In Motion (TSX:RIM) climbed $1.19 at $24.42 after the company said it was unveiling five new BlackBerrys with touchscreens as it hopes to revive the line's dwindling appeal in the face of competition from the iPhone and Android smartphones. The new phones had been expected earlier this year, but were delayed.
Investors looking for safe havens continued to push gold prices further into record territory as the December contract ran ahead $21.80 to close at US$1,666.30 an ounce. The gold sector advanced as Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) gained 66 cents to C$47.31 and Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) climbed 47 cents to C$46.92.
Iamgold Corp. (TSX:IMG) shares were up 43 cents to $20.23 as it said a 36-hour work stoppage by 1,100 workers has ended at its Suriname Rosebel gold mine.
The financial sector also lifted the TSX, rising 1.11 per cent with Royal Bank (TSX:RY) ahead $1.01 to $51.30 while TD Bank (TSX:TD) was up $1.45 to $76.79.
The base metals sector was ahead 0.55 per cent as metal prices also weakened, with September copper dipping seven cents to US$4.33 a pound. Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B) gained $1.04 to C$ 45.97 while Lundin Mining (TSX:LUN) fell 24 cents to C$6.69.
The energy sector was the biggest drag, down 0.74 per cent as demand concerns put pressure on oil prices for a fourth day, with the September crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange down $1.86 at US$91.93 a barrel. Suncor Energy (TSX:SU) declined 63 cents to C$34.65 while Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ) shed 28 cents to C$36.83.
New York markets were also off early, sharp lows with the Dow Jones industrial average up 29.82 points to 11,896.44.
The Nasdaq composite index gained 23.83 points to 2,693.07 while the S&P 500 was up 6.29 points at 1,260.34.
In earnings news, fertilizer, chemicals and farm inputs retailer Agrium Inc. (TSX:AGU) said its second-quarter results rose to US$718 million, or $4.54 per share, up from $518 million, or $3.28 per share, posted a year earlier. Agrium outperformed its own raised expectations of between US$4.10 and $4.40 per share. Quarterly sales increased 40 per cent to $6.2 billion from $4.43 billion and its shares ran up $1.99 to $83.75.
Media conglomerate Time Warner said its second-quarter profit grew almost 14 per cent to US$638 million, thanks to higher revenue from its TV channel business and movies such as "The Hangover Part II." Revenue grew 10 per cent to $7.03 billion but its shares slipped 43 cents to $33.57.
Silvercorp Metals Inc. (TSX:SVM) shares gained 20 cents to C$9.98 as it reported that net profits jumped to US$25.6 million, or 15 cents a share, for the three months ended June 30. The Vancouver-based silver company with key operations in China benefited from record production and a rising silver price.
The TMX Group Inc. (TSX:X), the operator of Canada's major stock exchanges, announced Wednesday that it has acquired Atrium Network, a provider of capital markets data in Europe and North America. Meanwhile, the Maple Group, a consortium of financial institutions and pension funds making a bid to acquire the TMX Group, has extended its $3.8-billion offer until Sept. 30. TMX Group shares were down two cents at $43.12.
