Research In Motion Ltd., Canada’s top corporate R&D spender, warned a Parliamentary committee recently that changes to the flagship R&D tax credit program will cost the company $50-million a year, or a third of the $150-million it gets now.Dave Chidley/The Canadian Press
Canadian stocks on Thursday rose for a fifth straight day, driven partly by a dramatic 17.3 per cent rally in Research In Motion Ltd.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed at 12,153.10, up 53.04 points or 0.4 per cent.
U.S. markets were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, but stocks moved higher overseas as anxieties appeared to ease over Middle East tensions and the health of the global economy.
In Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 0.7 per cent and Germany's DAX index rose 0.8 per cent.
The moves follow a number of upbeat developments, suggesting that recent stock market weakness, which had seen the S&P 500 tumble about 8 per cent from its high in September, might have been overblown.
China reported that its factory activity expanded for the first time in 13 months, pointing to a rebounding economy.
And a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, reached on Wednesday, appeared to be holding, reducing anxieties that the Middle East might be edging toward a regional conflict.
The gains also followed recent upbeat developments on the U.S. fiscal cliff, where politicians have given signals that they are moving toward an agreement that will head-off automatic tax increases and spending cuts in the New Year.
In Canada, the stock market gains were led by Research In Motion Ltd., which rose 17.3 per cent after an analyst at National Bank raised his target on the stock to $15 (U.S.) from $12.
Yet, the latest jump also highlights a rally that has persisted over the past two months, driving RIM shares up 97 per cent from their intraday low in September. Investors appear to be betting that RIM's new platform, the BlackBerry 10, will reinvigorate the smartphone maker when it is released in early 2013.
Among other market moves, Canadian National Railway Co. rose 1.6 per cent and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. rose 1.2 per cent.
David Berman