The Toronto stock market looked set for a higher open Monday as commodity prices advanced and investors hoped the departure of the co-CEOs of Research In Motion Ltd. signalled an improvement in the fortunes of the BlackBerry maker.
RIM announced late Sunday that Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis would be replaced by RIM’s little-known chief operating officer, Thorsten Heins.
The Waterloo, Ont-based company has seen its fortunes plunge over the last few years as it lost market share to Apple iPhones and iPads and phones using Google’s Android. RIM also suffered though a global four-day service outage.
RIM (TSX:RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM) shares were up almost five per cent in pre-market trading in New York. The shares closed Friday on the TSX at C$17.24, down sharply from its 52-week high of $69.30.
The Canadian dollar was up 0.38 of a cent to 99.08 cents US.
U.S. futures moved higher as investors looked past delays in reaching an agreement between Greece and its private creditors that would further ease Europe’s debt crisis.
The Dow Jones industrial futures gained 23 points to 12,677, the Nasdaq futures were ahead 4.2 points to 2,439 and the S&P 500 futures rose 1.4 points to 1,312.2.
Greece’s private creditors are being asked to accept longer maturities and lower interest rates on new bonds swapped for their existing ones.
Greece wants interest rates as low as three per cent on the new bonds. But the private creditors believe that is too low and are aiming for about 4.5%.
Both sides say a deal is nevertheless very close. An agreement is necessary if Greece is to get the next batch of bailout cash that would prevent a devastating debt default.
Oil prices ran up after the European Union formally adopted an oil embargo Monday against Iran and a freeze of the assets of the country’s central bank. The package is part of sanctions meant to pressure the country to resume talks on its nuclear program.
Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. and other countries impose more sanctions on it because of its nuclear program. Many analysts doubt that Iran could set up a blockade for long, but any supply shortages would cause supplies to tighten.
The March crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 95 cents to US$99.28 a barrel.
Metal prices also advanced with copper ahead five cents to US$3.79 a pound while gold climbed $9.90 to US$1,673.90 an ounce.
European markets were positive as London’s FTSE index gained 0.75%, Frankfurt’s DAX was ahead 0.48% and the Paris CAC 40 moved up 0.43%.
Only a handful of markets were open for business in Asia. Trading is closed in mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines for Chinese New Year.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average closed little changed and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.3%.
In other corporate news, Ottawa-based Wi-LAN Inc. (TSX:WIN) has launched a patent suit against Research In Motion Ltd. The suit filed in a U.S. district court in Florida claims that the BlackBerry maker is infringing on two patents belonging to Wi-LAN.
Descartes Systems Group (TSX:DSG) has acquired GeoMicro, Inc., a California-based company that provides advanced geographic information systems and navigation products. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed in Monday’s announcement.
In the U.S., energy services giant Halliburton reports that its net income jumped nearly 50% in the final three months of 2011 to US$906 million as rising oil prices sparked new drilling projects. Revenue increased 36.9% to $7.06 billion.