(Adds details on specific stocks, updates prices)
* TSX up 14.45 points, or 0.09 percent, to 15,456.77
* Six of the TSX’s 10 main groups move higher
TORONTO, March 21 Canada’s main stock index
barely rose on Tuesday as some heavyweight banking stocks and
miners notched gains and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd jumped after
announcing a copper deposit discovery.
The most influential movers on the index included Barrick
Gold Corp, which advanced 1.2 percent to C$25.76.
The world’s largest gold producer said a World Bank
arbitration tribunal had ruled in favor of it and joint venture
partner Antofagasta plc over a copper project in
Pakistan.
Ivanhoe Mines jumped 8.6 percent to C$4.67 after it said it
had discovered more copper at its mine in the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
But several base metal miners featured on the negative side
of the ledger as copper prices fell, with First Quantum Minerals
Ltd down 1.6 percent at C$14.19 and Lundin Mining Corp
falling 3.1 percent to C$7.81.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals
miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.5 percent overall.
At 10:49 a.m. ET (1449 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange’s
S&P/TSX composite index was up 14.45 points, or 0.09
percent, to 15,456.77. Six of the index’s 10 main groups were in
positive territory and advancers slightly outnumbered decliners
overall.
The heavyweight financials group gained 0.3 percent,
recovering some of its losses from the prior two sessions as
bond yields perked up. The country’s largest lender, Royal Bank
of Canada, advanced 0.7 percent to C$97, while insurer
Manulife Financial Corp fell 0.8 percent to C$23.82.
Consumer staples stocks gained 0.4 percent.
Canadian retail sales rebounded in January with the largest
gain in nearly seven years as spending rose across most sectors,
led by an increase in purchases of cars, Statistics Canada said
on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Nick Zieminski)