CANADA STOCKS-TSX barely higher despite oil price rise, Rona surge

(Adds portfolio manager comment on Rona, updates prices)
By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index
struggled to break even on Wednesday as a bounce in crude oil
prices offered only muted support to the resource-linked market,
while shares in home retailer Rona Inc RON.TO almost doubled
after a generous takeover deal.
The energy group rebounded from a more than 1 percent fall
to be up 1.5 percent as crude prices rallied. O/R
But jitters about global economic growth persisted, weighing
on financial and industrial stocks.
Also among major weights were drug company Valeant
Pharmaceuticals International Inc VRX.TO , which lost 2.9
percent to C$124.66, and auto parts maker Magna International
Inc MG.TO , which fell 4 percent to C$45.62.
"The sentiment is so god-awful negative. It is impossible
for investors to look past their nose," said Barry Schwartz, a
portfolio manager at Baskin Financial Services.
At 11:19 a.m. EST (1619 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's
S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was up 5.31 points, or 0.04
percent, to 12,447.57. It traded for most of the morning in
negative territory after an initial gain.
Gold miners were among the most influential risers on the
index, as bullion XAU= tested a three-month high. GOL/
Barrick Gold Corp ABX.TO added 3.2 percent to C$14.28,
Goldcorp Inc G.TO gained 4.3 percent to C$16.5, and Yamana
Gold Inc YRI.TO rose 7.5 percent to C$2.73.
Rona's stock jumped from below C$12 to C$22.33, just under
the C$24 per share in cash U.S. retailer Lowe's Companies Inc
said it would pay.
"It's hard to see a rival offer. It makes the most sense,"
Schwartz said.
He said energy stocks, which have been pummeled in the last
18 months as crude tumbled, likely won't recover until oil
pushes definitively out of its funk.
"The only thing that makes people run out and buy resource
names is thinking of the cash flow they'll produce when they get
back to a level that is normal," he said.
U.S. crude CLc1 prices were up 4.9 percent to $31.35 a
barrel, while Brent crude LCOc1 added 4.9 percent to $34.33.
Gold futures GCc1 rose 1.1 percent to $1,139.6 an ounce,
while copper CMCU3 added 2 percent to $4,640 a tonne. MET/L