TSX Flat Amid Cautious Trade; Blackberry Dives - Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks were little changed Monday morning as commodities were steady after China's non-manufacturing sector expanded at a faster pace in October. While most Asian markets settled lower overnight, European shares were trading firm as investors remained hopeful ahead of the European Central Bank's monetary policy meeting scheduled for Thursday.

China's non-manufacturing sector expanded at a faster pace in October, a combined survey by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing and the National Bureau of Statistics revealed Sunday. The official purchasing managers' index for the service sector moved up to 56.3 in October from 55.4 in September.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index edged down 13.57 points or 0.10 percent to 13,323.90, after losing over 100 points or nearly 1 percent in the past two trading sessions.

Smart phone maker BlackBerry (BB.TO) dived over 12 percent after announcing that it has reached an agreement by which Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (FFH.TO) and other institutional investors or collectively, the purchasers will invest in BlackBerry through a $1 billion private placement of convertible debentures.

The price of crude oil was lingering around its four-month low Monday morning amid a generally steady dollar and on concerns over rising US crude oil inventories. Crude for December edged up $0.13 to $94.74 a barrel.

In the oil patch, Pacific Rubiales Energy (PRE.TO) gained nearly 5 percent after it said it has received the environmental licences from the Colombian environmental authority to advance its planned exploration and development activities in both the CPE-6 and Guama E&P blocks, located in Colombia.

The price of gold was little changed Monday morning amid speculation that European Central Bank may cut interest rates to rev up its economy. Gold for December moved up $5.80 to $1,319.00 an ounce.

Among gold plays, Goldcorp. (G.TO), Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) and Royal Gold (RGL.TO) rose around 2 percent each.

Bombardier Inc. (BBD_B.TO, BBD_A.TO) edged up 0.25 percent after announcing the sale and delivery of the Bombardier 415 superscooper aircraft, to a partnership led by Tenax Aerospace, LLC of Ridgeland, Mississippi. Based on the list price, the Bombardier contract is valued at approximately $34.5 million.

In economic news from the U.S., the Commerce Department said factory orders jumped by 1.7 percent in September after edging down by 0.1 percent in August. While the increase in orders in September matched economist estimates, orders had been expected to rise by 0.3 percent in the previous month.

From the euro zone, Germany's manufacturing sector grew at a faster-than-expected rate during October, led by growth in production and new orders, survey data released by Markit Economics showed .The final Markit/BME Germany Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 51.7 from September's 51.1. The flash estimate was 51.5.

Meanwhile, the euro zone manufacturing sector carried its modest third quarter recovery into the final quarter of the year as initially estimated, final data from Markit Economics showed. The manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 51.3, in line with flash estimate from 51.1 in September.

Elsewhere, the U.K. construction output grew at the steepest pace since September 2007, survey results from Markit Economics showed. The Markit/Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply construction Purchasing Managers' Index came in at 59.4 in October, up from 58.9 in September and above the 50.0 no-change threshold for the sixth consecutive month.