By Gavin Adamson
(September 1 – 17:00 ET) – It was a light day of trading that nevertheless saw many North American Blue Chips nudge forward.
The TSE made gains especially in the financial services and the pulp and paper sub-sectors. The 300 index finished up a meagre 3 points to 6973.80 on the strength of moves by the TD and Royal Bank. Both banks were each trading C$0.20 higher today, at $29.45 and $64, respectively.
Other gains were made by MacBloedel Ltd, which had gained C$0.45 in late trading, to $23, and Bowater, which was trading C$4 higher today, at $64.
Long-term interest rate optimism helped the financial services stocks, while the paper stocks were swept up by a good report in the US from a Paine Webber analyst. The report has predictions that paper, pulp and newsprint prices will jump over the next few months, helping profitablity for those companies.
Consequently in the U.S., paper producers like Weyerhaeuser closed up more than US$1, to $57 9/16. The Dow closed up higher, up 107.65 to 10,936. But trading was light in the US as well. Nasdaq inched a little higher to 2750.81, up 11.46. The S&P 500 was also up, 10.66 to 1331.07.
The VSE was up 1.72 in late trading, to 409.60. The ASE made 10.25 points, to 2661.13 late in the day as well. The ME, on the other hand, closed down 45.47 , to 3,716.29.