* Updates with index turning higher; adds portfolio
manager's comments
By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, July 28 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index edged
higher on Tuesday after a seven-day streak of losses as
investors picked through earnings reports and several resource
stocks got a bounce from recent lows.
BlackBerry Ltd BB.TO gained 4.8 percent to C$9.96 after
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) upgraded the stock of the smartphone pioneer.
Shares in oil company Husky Energy Inc HSE.TO jumped 3.4
percent to C$23.34 after its quarterly report. ID:nMKW5Y5MFa
At 11:03 a.m. EDT (1503 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's
S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was up 10.01 points, or 0.07
percent, at 14,011.38. It had traded in the red for much of the
morning, and is down more than 5 percent in the past month.
The Chinese equities rout of the past week pummeled oil
prices, hitting the shares of Canadian oil companies and
exposing many resource companies to the prospect of less demand
for their products as fears for the world's second largest
economy increase. ID:nL3N1081IT
"Weaker economic numbers out of China and other emerging
market countries don't portend well for the commodity complex,
which is what Canada is based on," said Manash Goswami, a
portfolio manager at First Asset Investment Management.
Goswami said quarterly corporate earnings have so far been
adequate but not outstanding.
"Companies are cost-cutting and they are managing their way
through this, but we haven't seen robust top-line growth," he
said.
Shares in WestJet Airlines Ltd WJA.TO fell 1.2 percent to
C$22.39 even though the company reported a 19 percent rise in
profit, helped by lower fuel costs and new
routes. ID:nL3N1083RL
Home Capital Group Inc HCG.TO fell 5.6 percent to C$27.52.
The alternative lender said after the close on Monday that board
member James Baille, a former chairman of the Ontario Securities
Commission, had resigned.
Pipeline operator Enbridge Inc ENB.TO fell 1.1 percent to
C$54.27, while First Quantum Minerals Ltd FM.TO lost 4.9
percent to C$10.99. Production at its Zambian mines was hit by
power cuts. ID:nL3N1082Y3
($1=$1.30 Canadian)