Monday, September 18, 2006, 4:15 PM EST (Thomson Financial Corporate
Services): Bay Street had an up day, but was relatively quiet waiting for
major economic stats later this week, most notably tomorrow's Canadian
inflation figures and the U.S. FOMC rate decision on Wednesday. Oil and
gold moved up as resources were buoyed by copper and zinc price rises. In
corporate news, newly formed Western Copper is buying Lumina, and Enterra
and JED Oil are swapping properties in the West.
* The S&P/TSX Stock Exchange Composite Index jumped 107.51 points, or
0.92%.
* In energy news, Enterra Energy Trust has settled details of a deal
with JED Oil to swap C$44.1 million of property Enterra owns in Alberta for
certain JED holdings in Alberta and British Columbia.
* Lumina Resources will be acquired by Western Copper for C$26 million,
in a plan of arrangement. The deal, to be sealed in late November, will be
a straight swap share-per-share, giving a 66% premium to Lumina's closing
price last Friday.
* Real Estate mogul Paul Reichmann plans to step down as a trustee of
IPC US Real Estate Investment Trust and start a US$3-4 billion investment
fund by next March. The yet-unnamed new Canada-based fund will also have
offices in Britain and Luxembourg.
* Insurance giant Sun Life Financial is interviewing investment banks
to advise it on a possible sale or merger of its MFS Investment Management
division. Acquired by Sun Life in 1982, Boston-based MFS invented the
mutual fund and holds US$168 billion in assets.
* Appealing for a "spirit of mutual respect," Lu Shumin, the Chinese
Ambassador to Canada, gave a speech in Saskatoon in which he called for
closer economic ties, even as the Tories indicated they are wary of the
nation's human rights record. Ambassador Lu promised China will look more
closely at the problem of its currency being pegged at low levels, and
pledged to fight harder on the problem of intellectual property rights. The
IMF also granted China more voting shares, befitting its status as the
world's fourth-largest economy, but cautioned it against excessive lending
to poorer countries.
* Neste Oil Corporation of Finland is investigating "unclear bookings"
in its Canadian unit, writing down 19 million euros in its third-quarter
results. Some of the accounting entries date from the late 1990s.
* Crude may be positioned to rally. Heating oil supplies seem to be
adequate, the highest in seven years; OPEC, while maintaining its current
level of productions, said on Friday that it was revising its
fourth-quarter forecasts down 320,000 barrels per day; and supplies are
good in the U.S., the largest market. However, geopolitical factors are
always unpredictable, and all eyes
are on Tropical Storm Helene and the malingering Thunder Horse oil
platform under repair in the Gulf. Today oil rose by US$0.47 to end at
US$63.80.
* Gold was buoyed as the greenback weakened and oil began to recover,
closing up at US$592.80, up US$9.80.
* Statistics Canada reported that foreign investors purchased net
C$3.14 billion of Canadian securities, mostly bonds, in July. Canadians
invested in foreign securities with a net of C$6.25 billion. Foreign
investment was C$21.24 billion between January and July, three times more
than last year's C$6.89 billion. Canadian investment overseas for the same
time was C$46.30 billion, nearly double last year's C$26.07 billion.
* South of the border, the U.S. account gap grew more than expected in
the second quarter to a US$218.4 billion deficit, up from a revised
US$213.2 billion in the first quarter. Economists say it is not a major
cause for concern.
-- Carolyn.Crapo@contractor.Thomson.com; Thomson Financial Corporate
Services
This is Thomson Financial Corporate Services Canadian Commentary, which
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accurate, we take no responsibility for inaccurate information and reserve
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SOURCE Thomson Financial Corporate Group
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