TSX choppy amid busy day in mining sector, Europe data

Toronto's main market was choppy Monday, as traders reacted to a batch of corporate news in Canada's mining sector amid gloomy economic data out of Europe. 

Traders are also awaiting the speech after market close by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Last month, the Fed's December policy meeting indicated some committee members want the bank to end its bond-buying program before the end of this year. 

In Asia overnight, Reuters reported that the Bank of Japan will agree to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's demand for a 2% inflation target, double its current price goal, to show its commitment to further monetary easing.

In Europe this morning, European Union statistics office Eurostat reported that industrial production for the eurozone in November fell 0.3%, or 3.7% annualized, worse than forecasts. 

Back in Toronto as of about 1 p.m. EDT, the S&P/TSX Composite was lower by 18.13 points, or 0.14%, to 12,584.05, while the more junior S&P/TSX Venture Composite fell 8.01 points, or 0.65% to 1,232.24.

Commodities were mixed Monday afternoon, with gold futures for February moving higher ahead of multiple speeches this week by Fed officials. The yellow metal was lately ahead by $5.30 to $1,665.90 an ounce.

Elsewhere, crude oil for February delivery slipped 18 cents to $93.81 a barrel, ahead of Wednesday’s monthly oil report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and weekly petroleum inventory data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Meanwhile, silver futures added 49 cents to $30.90 an ounce, and the base metal copper contract fell 2 cents to $3.64 a pound.

Gold giants were higher, with Kinross (TSE:K) lately up 0.43%, while Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) edged up 0.30%, and Goldcorp (TSE:G) added 0.66%.

Toronto's main sectors were mostly lower, with only info tech and health care showing gains.

Materials were hovering between slight gains and losses, with declines seen in Alamos Gold (TSE:AGI), down over 9% after it announced that it has made an offer to acquire Aurizon Mines (TSE:ARZ) for C$780 million in cash and shares. 

The news pushed Aurizon to the top of the advancers, as its shares shot up over 34%.

Elsewhere, Tahoe Resources (TSE:THO) fell 7.96%, while Guyana Goldfields (TSE:GUY) rose 12.77% after it late Friday released an updated feasibility study for its Aurora gold project, with a net present value of $800 million and internal rate of return of 38% after tax.

The metals and mining sector was busy with news Monday.

Harry Winston Diamond Corp (TSE:HW) (NYSE:HWD) has agreed to sell its luxury brand diamond jewelry and timepiece division, Harry Winston Inc., to the Swatch Group for US$750 million, with the price tag increasing to $ 1 billion when including US$250 million of debt. 

Under the terms of the agreement, Harry Winston has agreed to trade under a new name, and will change to Dominion Diamond Corp at the close of the deal. 

Toronto-based Uranium One (TSE:UUU) has agreed to be taken private by JSC Atomredmetzoloto and its affiliate, Effective Energy N.V., which already hold a 51.4% stake in the Uranium producer, in a C$2.8 billion deal. 

Mawson Resources (TSE:MAW) (OTCPK:MWSNF) saw its shares rise over 6%, after it said it has discovered further gold mineralization at the Rajapalot project in Northern Finland, with grab samples returning up to 1,520 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.  

Silver miner Great Panther Silver (TSE:GPR)(NYSE MKT:GPL) has unveiled an updated resource estimate for its Topia mine in Durango, Mexico, with the company saying the report brings "greater confidence" in the mine model. 

Armenia-focused gold exploration and development group Lydian (TSE:LYD) has unveiled another set of “impressive” drilling results from its Amulsar project. The grades ranged between 1 and 1.8 grams per tonne, including 35 metre section at that higher figure and 89 metres at 1 gram.

Fortuna Silver Mines (TSE:FVI) (NYSE:FSM) Monday said that silver and gold production in 2012 exceeded its forecast, increasing eight and 19 per cent, respectively. At its two wholly-owned mines, Fortuna reported silver production of 4.0 million ounces – up 59 per cent over 2011, while gold production nearly tripled from a year earlier to 20,699 ounces.

Mandalay Resources (TSE:MND) achieved record levels of production in the last three months of 2012, with rising output set to continue into 2013. The Canada-listed group produced a total of 10,927 ounces of gold, 785 tonnes antimony and 895,222 oz silver representing a total of 33,537 ounces of gold equivalent in the quarter.

Caledonia Mining’s (LON:CMCL) (TSE:CAL) Blanket Mine in Zimbabwe notched up a new annual production record in 2012, despite output easing slightly in the last three months of the year. Total gold production for 2012 was 45,600 ounces, a 27% increase over 2011’s 35,800 oz.

Meadow Bay Gold (TSE:MAY) updated investors today on its Atlanta mine project in Nevada, saying work on a new resource estimate was nearly done.

Also, the Bureau of Land Management has determined the company's exploration plan for the former producing mine will not cause "undue environmental degradation" and it has set a reclamation bond, the company said in a statement.

Energy was lower Monday, with declines seen in PetroBakken Energy (TSE:PBN), TransGlobe Energy (TSE:TGL) and PetroBank Energy and Resources (TSE:PBG), down 6.6%, 5.08% and 3.03%, respectively.

Encana (TSE:ECA) (NYSE:ECA) shares were lower after it announced late Friday that current chief Randall K. Eresman is retiring after 35 years with the company, and will be replaced by director Clayton Woitas on an interim basis. Eresman has agreed to stay on as an advisor until February 28, to assist with the transition.

Advances in the sector were seen in Petrominerales (TSE:PMG), Canadian Oil Sands (TSE:COS) and Freehold Royalties (TSE:FRU) – up 1.95%, 1% and 0.95% - respectively.

Financials were slightly lower Monday, with Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) down 0.28% and the Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY) shedding 0.23%, while Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) rose 0.92%.

*US/Europe*

U.S. stocks were mixed Monday, as shares of tech giant Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPLE) weighed, after falling sharply on reports that it had slashed component orders for its iPhone 5.

The Dow was lately down 0.52 points to 13,487.91, while the Nasdaq fell 16.86 points to 3,108.77 and the S&P 500 shed 4.57 points to 1,467.48.

In Washington, President Barack Obama held a late-morning press conference about plans to reduce the U.S. deficit, calling for a "balanced package". The last-minute deal reached earlier this year to avert the fiscal cliff failed to resolve the U.S. debt ceiling issue. 

No major economic reports are scheduled for today, although three Fed-related speeches are slated for Monday. Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is due to speak at the University of Michigan at 4pm today, while San Francisco Fed President John Williams and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart will speak around noon. 

In corporate news, tech shares were being dragged down as shares of Apple fell more than 3% on reports that the tech giant has slashed its orders for iPhone 5 components due to weaker-than-expected demand.

According to Japanese publication Nikkei, Apple cut last month’s orders for iPhone 5 screens for the first quarter of 2013 by about half its original target. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the California-based company scaled back orders for other screen sizes as well.

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) rose almost 4% after J.P. Morgan Chase & Co upgraded the PC maker to neutral from underweight, as the company took back the top PC-maker ranking from Lenovo Group. 

IBM (NYSE:IBM) shares fell, meanwhile, after J.P. Morgan downgraded the company to neutral from overweight. 

In other corporate news, shares of Transocean (NYSE:RIG) gained after Carl Icahn bought a stake of the offshore-rig contractor.

Over the weekend, it was announced that Flower Foods (NYSE:FLO) is buying Wonder Bread and other bread brands from bankrupt Hostess for $390 million. Hostess has not yet announced buyers for its snacks, but news is expected on this front within a few weeks. 

UPS (NYSE:UPS) also said it is abandoning its planned $6.9 billion takeover of Amsterdam's TNT Express after objections from European antitrust regulators. 

AIG (NYSE:AIG) is suing Maiden Lane II, the investment vehicle created by the New York Fed in 2008 to buy residential mortgage-backed securities from AIG. 

Earnings season continues this week, with Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) due to report their results Wednesday, while IntelNASDAQ:INTC), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and General Electric (NYSE:GE) are due later in the week.

European markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The DAX gained 0.18% and the CAC 40 rose 0.06%. The FTSE 100 lost 0.22%. Reported by Proactive Investors 4 hours ago.