Source: The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market closed slightly higher Wednesday as gold stocks ran ahead while the latest attempt to cool the Chinese economy put base metal stocks under pressure.

The S&P/TSX composite index came back from a 130-point slide amid rising tech and gold stocks and closed up 26.01 points at 12,942.64, while the TSX Venture Exchange was up 17.3 points at 2,022.33.

The Canadian dollar closed at par with the greenback for the first time since April 14, up 0.73 of a cent at exactly 100 cents US.

Fresh worries about China grew after the country’s central bank ordered banks to set aside more reserves in a new move to curb lending amid concern about rising inflation.

A surging Chinese economy has been of particular benefit to commodity prices and the resource-heavy Toronto stock market.

“We sell China all the stuff they need to grow their economy, the metals, energy and coal, the raw materials,” observed Aaron Fennell, senior market strategist at Lind-Waldock Canada.

Gold stocks were the best performing TSX group even as December gold slipped from Tuesday’s record close, down $10.80 at US$1,399.30 an ounce. Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) rose 80 cents to C$47.43 and Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) improved 59 cents to $51.84.

The tech sector also advanced with shares in Research In Motion Ltd. (TSX:RIM) ahead $3.15, or 5.68%, at $58.61 as co-CEO Jim Balsillie said RIM will charge “under” $500 for its BlackBerry Playbook tablet. He didn’t get into specifics but said the product will be “very competitively priced.”

But shares in Smart Technologies Inc. (TSX:SMA), which makes interactive whiteboards for group presentations, plunged $4.40, or 33%, to $8.90 even as the company beat analyst estimates with a quarterly profit of $44.3 million. However, the company disappointed in terms of revenue, coming in about 5% below estimates and warning that it will take a more conservative stance on future growth.

The energy sector was ahead 0.3% with oil prices up $1.09 at a fresh two-year high of US$87.81 a barrel. Suncor Energy (TSX:SU) climbed 37 cents to C$36.33 while Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ) rose 35 cents to $40.03.

The base metals segment led decliners, down 0.85% as metal prices backed off with the December copper contract on the New York Stock Exchange seven cents lower at US$3.97 a pound as investors in the sector also took in a mixed bag of earnings.

First Quantum Minerals Ltd.’s (TSX:FM) third-quarter results missed analyst expectations, losing US$124.4 million in the latest quarter after shutting down its Frontier copper operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Excluding one-time charges, First Quantum earned $129.7 million, or $1.62 per share. The average analyst estimate was for earnings of $2.10 per share on revenue of $569 million and its shares fell $4.25 to $91.

Quadra FNX Mining Ltd.’s (TSX:QUX) third-quarter net earnings spiked to $37.2 million from $14.7 million in the comparable year-ago period (first quarter), reflecting the merger of Quadra Mining and FNX Mining. Revenues nearly tripled to $259.1 million as copper prices remained strong. Its shares lost $1.21 to $14.70.

Financials were also a weight, down 0.28% with National Bank (TSX:NA) losing 67 cents to $65.90.

Meanwhile, China’s leading credit rating agency lowered its view on the U.S. in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s decision to pump another US$600 billion into the American economy.

China’s credit rating agency Dagong downgraded the long-term sovereign rating of the U.S. to A-plus from AA. That was the second time in six months that Dagong has downgraded its rating on the U.S. and comes after China’s central bank chief, Zhou Xiaochuan, said the Fed’s new money-boosting measures may hurt the rest of the world.

“We can discuss back and forth whether American credit is good but if the Chinese don’t think it’s good, it doesn’t matter because they will try to find ways to liquidate their debt,” Fennell said.

“And if they have to liquidate their U.S. Treasurys, they will need to find ways to spend that cash and they will probably spend it on hard assets like stockpiling gold, copper, platinum. Great for the commodity market and long-term good for Canada because we produce all those materials.”

New York markets turned slightly higher ahead of an upcoming meeting of world leaders and as Europe continues to grapple with government debt problems.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 10.29 points to 11,357.04.

The Nasdaq composite index was ahead 15.8 points at 2,578.78 while the S&P 500 index was up 5.31 points at 1,218.71.

The United States has been criticized by emerging economies over the Fed’s latest move to stimulate the faltering economy. They are worried that another round of quantitative easing will further weaken the greenback by printing vast quantities of dollars and give an advantage to cheaper American exports.

China will also likely face criticism, most notably from U.S. President Barack Obama, that its policy of keeping the yuan low to boost exports is causing problems in the world economy.

Meanwhile, the American dollar gained against other currencies, particularly the euro as investors worry about the government debt crisis in Ireland.

The country’s borrowing costs are rising in the markets on a daily basis amid fears that the government will not be able to push through its next round of austerity measures and will be forced to seek help from its partners in the eurozone.

In other corporate news, General Motors says it made US$2 billion in the third quarter, a strong showing that helps the company’s pitch to investors who may buy stock in an initial public offering, which is scheduled to take place Nov. 18. The latest result reverses a loss in the third quarter of last year when GM was just emerging from bankruptcy. Revenue rose 36% to US$34.1 billion.

Units of Jazz Air Income Fund (TSX:JAZ.UN) were down 11 cents, or 2.07%, at $5.21 on top of an 8% loss on Tuesday amid worries about a weaker 2011 and lower cash flow than expected.

Ivanhoe Energy Inc. (TSX:IE) shares fell 20 cents to $2.50 after the company widened its third-quarter loss to US$7.2 million as costs to develop its oil properties grew and it took in less revenue than a year ago.