Off the Radar

[mick]

Canadian, Commodities Markets
Toronto Stocks May Continue Slide

Bay Street stocks could extend their recent losses on Tuesday morning as a rising U.S. dollar continued to push commodities lower and Scotiabank missed expectations in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Canada announced it will keep its overnight rate target at 0.25%. The move was widely expected.

Crude oil prices are down $.109 to $72.83 per barrel, while gold is down $11.10 to $1,149 an ounce and copper has lost 4.4 cents to $3.165 a pound.

Scotiabank reported fourth quarter net income available to common shareholders of C$853 million or C$0.83 per share, compared to C$283 million or C$0.28 per share last year. Analysts were looking for EPS of $0.87.

UTS Energy Corp said effective December 31, 2009, Dennis Sharp will step down as Chairman and will continue to serve as a director of UTS. Sharp has been Chairman of the UTS Board of Directors since 2006.

Eldorado Gold announced that Earl Price will retire as the company's Chief Financial Officer, effective December 31. The company has appointed Ed Miu as his successor.

Equinox Minerals announced that it has appointed Colin Johnstone as the company's chief operating officer, effective from January 2010.

Meanwhile, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported Canadian housing starts rose to 158,500 units, fron 157,400 in the prior month.

On Monday, the S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped 21.17 points or 0.18% to finish at 11,489.63. The decline took the main index to a weekly low.

Currency, Commodity Futures

Crude oil futures are declining $1.17 to $72.76 a barrel after declining $1.51 to $73.96 a barrel in Monday’s session. Gold futures are moving down $17.60 to $1,146.40 an ounce. In the previous session, the precious metal fell $5.50 to $1,164 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 88.314 yen compared to the 89.51 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is currently valued at $1.4744.

Asia Markets
Asian Markets End Weaker On Profit Taking

The markets across Asia ended in negative territory on Tuesday as traders preferred to lock in gains and move to the sidelines awaiting further direction. The rise in dollar and flat closing by the U.S. markets in the previous session impacted the market sentiment. The fresh stimulus package announced by Japan's new government failed to enthuse investors as there were no surprises. Indian market bucked the trend and ended sharply higher led by Reliance Industries.

In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index declined 27.13 points, or 0.27%, to 10,140, while the broader Topix index of all First Section issues lost 2.23 points, or 0.25%, to 897.

On the economic front, a report released by the Ministry of Finance revealed that Japan's current account surplus rose 42.7% year-over-year to 1.398 trillion yen in October. However, the surplus came in below analysts' mean expectation of 1.483 trillion yen surplus. The trade balance came in at 949 billion yen, beating forecasts for an 864.6 billion yen surplus after the 599.2 billion yen surplus a month earlier. The annual increase of 812.4 billion yen was the largest since the series began in 1986.

Earlier, the Japanese coalition government announced a fresh stimulus package worth 7.2 trillion yen to battle the threats of deflation and a strong currency in the world's second largest economy. As per the stimulus package, the government plans to provide 3.5 trillion yen to bolster regional economies and 600 billion yen to help the job market. Another 800 billion yen is planned for environment related measures. The package consist of measures that provide subsidies for eco-friendly cars and household appliances. Additionally, 1.2 trillion yen would be used to raise funds for companies.

Shipping stocks declined the most, due to profit taking as well as drop in Baltic Dry Index. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha fell 5.38%, Mitsui OSK Lines lost 3.30% and Nippon Yusen slumped 5.65%.

Profit taking was witnessed among automotive stocks. Honda Motor slipped 0.30%, Hino Motors shed 2.77%, Nissan Motor declined 0.94%, Isuzu Motor fell 2.26% and Mitsubishi Motor fell 2.16%.