TSX moves up, April 28-May 2

The Toronto stock market had a strong trading week, helped by decent corporate earnings and better-than-expected jobs data from the U.S., with the S&P/TSX Composite Index gaining 232 points to 14,765.15. 

The American economy created 288,000 jobs in April, ahead of the expected 200,000, with the jobless rate falling 6.7% to 6.3% — largely due to fewer people looking for work. 

The S&P/TSX Capped Diversified Metals & Mining Index climbed 7 points to 868.66, but the gold miners didn’t gain any ground, as the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index slipped 1.3 points to 185.89. The spot price for gold fell US$3.20 per oz. to US$1,300.60 in New York. 

Agnico Eagle Mines was the top value gainer, soaring $3.48 to $35.53 per share. The gold miner, which recently partnered with Yamana Gold to jointly bid for Osisko Mining, reported first-quarter adjusted earnings of US$107 million, or US61¢ per share, which is double the figure it earned a year ago. 

The strong earnings resulted from more than a 50% increase in both gold production and sales. Total gold production was 366,000 oz., while sales amounted to 358,000 oz. Agnico’s top-performing asset, the Meadowbank mine in Nunavut, delivered 40% of the total production. 

Apart from Meadowbank, Agnico has six mines: three in Quebec, two in Mexico and one in Finland. It expects full-year production of more than 1.2 million oz. gold at total cash costs under US$670 per oz.

Toronto-based Detour Gold posted an adjusted net loss of US$28 million, or US20¢ a share, as it ramps up its flagship Detour Lake gold mine in Ontario to full production. The mill should process at its 55,000-tonne-per-day design capacity in the fourth quarter, which should drive up production and lower costs, the company says. 

Mill throughput during the first quarter averaged 45,000 tonnes per day — slightly lower than expected — but that was offset by the higher average gold grade of 0.9 gram per tonne. Quarterly output was around 107,000 oz. gold, meeting the company’s guidance. Detour moved up 72¢ to close the week at $11.86. 

Uranium producer Cameco was the biggest value loser, dropping $1.49 to $23.16. The Saskatoon-based firm posted first-quarter adjusted profits of $36 million, or 9¢ per share, missing the analyst average estimates of 11¢ per share. The drop resulted from the company’s fuel services and Nukem segments performing poorly, while its uranium segment did well, especially with the sale of its minority stake in Bruce Power Ltd. Partnership. 

Cameco also announced a delay at the mill servicing its Cigar Lake underground mine in Saskatchewan. Analysts do not expect the delay to have a huge negative impact, given the near- to medium-term weakness in the uranium market.

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