The Toronto stock market was ahead Monday afternoon as commodities traded in a tight range and Research In Motion shares continued their upward trek.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 68.56 points to close out the session at 12,794.25
The Canadian dollar subsided 0.01 cents to 100.70 cents U.S.
The S&P/TSX composite index is up 8% since mid-November.
In commodity markets, benchmark oil for February delivery was down eight cents to $95.47 U.S. a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
February bullion rose $2.70 to $1,689.70 U.S. an ounce while copper prices were down.
The information technology sector led the TSX, as shares of Research In Motion jumped another seven per cent as the BlackBerry maker heads towards the unveiling of its new smartphones on Jan. 30.
Its stock was up $1.64, or 10.4%, to $17.35 on Monday. That’s more than 170% above the stock’s 52-week low of $6.10 in September.
The Waterloo, Ont.,-based company has benefited from recent analyst upgrades and an interview with CEO Thorsten Heins in a German newspaper, where he suggested the company could sell its hardware division and license its operating system to a third party.
Elsewhere, the board of directors at Rona Inc. is being renovated under the watchful eye of two major fund managers that have a large stake in the struggling home improvement retailer.
Rona has been under fire from many investors since the Montreal-area company defeated a proposed takeover attempt by Lowe’s. Its shares gained 33 cents, or 2.9%, to $11.83.
Air Canada shares were ahead five cents to $2.45, despite news that the landing gear of an Air Canada Jazz plane fell off after it landed at Toronto’s Pearson airport on Sunday. Jazz spokeswoman Manon Stuart said pilots kept complete control of the plane during the incident, which saw emergency vehicles race out to the plane as a precautionary measure.
Among financials, Fairfax Financial Holdings raced ahead $6.87, or 1.9%, to $364.40.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported this morning that wholesale sales rose 0.7% in November to $49.6 billion, mostly due to higher computer sales, and that of other communications equipment.
The nation’s number-crunchers added that in volume terms, wholesale sales were up 0.5%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange took on 1.28 points by day’s end to 1,236.60
All but one of the 14 Toronto subgroups gained on the day, led by information technology, up 2%, while financials shot higher by 0.8%, and consumer discretionary stocks picked up 0.7%
The only laggard Monday was in global base metals, off 0.02%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. markets were closed Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday.
