TORONTO - The Toronto stock market maintained a lead of about 300 points mid-Monday afternoon.
Financials led the way after JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its offer for rival Bear Stearns to US$10 per share from $2.
But the advance was broadbased with commodity stocks on the mend after turning in sharp losses last week on worries about lower demand.
The JPMorgan offer also sent New York markets up sharply, adding to strong advances last week.
Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index surged 290.45 points to 13,066.09.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrials gained 226.24 points to 12,587.56.
"Financials have had quite a run from last week, it's impressive,'' said Vincent Deslisle, portfolio manager at Scotiabank in Montreal.
"I don't know if the Bear Stearns deal coincides with the bottom, certainly last week's (interest rate cut) from the Fed and the Bear Stearns deal at 10 bucks is a positive surprise (but) from where it was trading a few weeks ago, it's still devastating.''
The TSX Venture Exchange added 17.32 points to 2,479.65 while the Canadian dollar moved up 0.56 of a cent to 98.27 cents US, after losing 3.6 per cent last week to its lowest levels in two months, on falling commodities and a burst of strength in the American currency.
The Nasdaq composite rose 74.61 points to 2,332.72 while the S&P 500 index added 25.81 points to 1,355.32.
The original price for Bear Stearns was part of a deal struck last week at the urging of the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department.
The Federal Reserve is backing JPMorgan's revamped offer to buy Bear Stearns Cos.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's US$30 billion special financing initially linked to the transaction was changed so that JPMorgan will take on the first US$1 billion of any losses suffered by Bear Stearns.
Bear Stears shares rocketed $6.28 or 105 per cent to US$12.24 while JPMorgan shares advanced $1.22 to US$47.19
The U.S. market also saw a rare bit of good news from the housing sector. The National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes rose by 2.9 per cent in February, after falling for six straight months. It was the biggest increase in sales volume in a year _ but may have reflected price cutting, as the median home price was down 8.2 per cent.
The Toronto financial sector ran ahead 1.5 per cent last week and was up another 3.4 per cent after JPMorgan sweetened its offer for Bear Stearns.
"Financials: they've probably hit bottom, they were the first to roll over,'' added Delisle.
"If you look at their correction to date and this bear market, the numbers we have for Canadian financials, they are pretty much corrected about 90 per cent of what they typically correct in a U.S. recession.''
Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) gained $2.39 to $46.90 and CIBC (TSX:CM) advanced $3.29 to $67.55.
The energy sector was up 1.87 per cent as oil prices eked out a minor gain after sliding last week. The May contract on New York Mercantile Exchange edged up 17 cents to US$102.01 a barrel. Petro-Canada (TSX:PCA) climbed $1.38 to $44.15 and Suncor Energy (TSX:SU) improved $2.19 to $97.45.
Crude oil hit almost US$110 a barrel last week but has been heading downward on worries about American economic troubles.
Gold continued to drift lower, after topping US$1,000 an ounce and then tumbling eight per cent last week. The April bullion contract on the Nymex faded $1.30 to US$918.70 and the TSX gold sector slipped 0.6 per cent with Kinross Gold Corp. (TSX:K) down 67 cents to $21.70.
The base metals sector was also on the mend following last week's string of losses, ahead 2.9 per cent with Teck Cominco Ltd. (TSX:TCK.B) ahead 77 cents to $39.04 and HudBay Minerals (TSX:HBM) rose 62 cents to $16.50.
AbitibiBowater Inc. (TSX:ABH) jumped $3.23 or 33 per cent to $12.98 after it announced that Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (TSX:FFH) is buying US$350 million in convertible debentures. The transaction is part of AbitibiBowater's US$1.4-billion refinancing effort. Fairfax shares rose $1.70 to $278.72.
Com Dev International Ltd. (TSX:CDV) shares jumped 16 cents to $3.80 after it landed a C$4.7-million authorization to proceed on a program to supply EADS Astrium with equipment for a Eutelsat communications satellite. Com Dev expects the agreement to lead to a contract worth $15 million.
Other stocks giving the TSX a lift included Potash Corp. (TSX:POT), up $6.85 to $154.42 after an RBC Capital Markets analyst upgraded shares of the company on Monday, expecting the fertilizer company to gain from higher prices for potash.
Research In Motion (TSX:RIM), was up $6.03 to $113.10 while Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.B) was ahead 24 cents to $5.56.
Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk says he'll clear his name of allegations filed against him related to events while he headed Biovail Corp. (TSX:BVF), which agreed Monday to pay US$10 million to settle with the U.S. securities regulator. Biovail shares were up 25 cents to $12.03.
Insolvent SR Telecom (TSX:SRX) has made a deal to be acquired by privately held Groupe Lagasse of Sherbrooke, Que., for $6 million. It's unlikely that SR Telecom shareholders will receive anything for their stock, which was worth $132 per share on a reverse-split-adjusted bases almost exactly eight years ago. The shares doubled in value to one cent at one point but late in the morning were unchanged at half a cent on heavy volume of 29 million shares.
Cott Corp. (TSX:BCB) has parted ways with chief executive officer Brent Willis, after the biggest maker of store-brand soft drinks lost US$76.8 million in the fourth quarter. Its shares added 28 cents or 15 per cent to $2.13.
Imax Corp. (TSX:IMX) gained 84 cents to $7.25 after an enlarged joint venture with Regal Cinemas Inc. to install 31 Imax digital projection systems in 20 American cities.
