Canada Stocks Rise, Led By RIM, Potash, Suncor, T-D Bank

By John Kipphoff

Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian stocks rallied for a second day, led by Research In Motion Ltd., after International Business Machines Corp.'s earnings and forecast bolstered optimism for economic growth.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. and Suncor Energy Inc. gained, as prices of grains and industrial metals rose and the country's main index, which is dominated by commodity producers and financial shares, traded at the cheapest level in 13 years.

Barrick Gold Corp. slid along with the price of the precious metal today after jumping the most in 21 years yesterday.

The Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index gained 3.1 percent to 10,368.30 at 9:55 a.m. in Toronto, extending to a second day a rebound from a five-day plunge that sent it to a three-year low.

After dropping more than a third from its June 18 record on concern that U.S. bank failures and the resulting credit crunch would trigger a global recession, the S&P/TSX traded this week at 12.6 times members' per-share profits in the past 12 months, the lowest price-to-earnings multiple since October 1995.

Research In Motion rose 7.6 percent to C$69.06. IBM, the largest computer-services company reported third-quarter earnings that beat analysts' estimates and reiterated its annual forecast.

Potash Corp., the largest maker of crop nutrients, gained 11 percent to C$122.16. Teck Cominco Ltd., Canada's biggest diversified mining company, added 7.1 percent to C$22.70.

Suncor Energy, the second-largest oil-sands mining company, climbed 7.1 percent to C$31.54. EnCana Corp., Canada's largest energy company by market value, added 4.2 percent to C$54.40.

Financial shares also rose for a second day after the Canadian government said that it's looking at ``additional steps'' it could take to ensure markets continue to function amid the credit freeze that threatens to hurt growth. Yesterday, the Bank of Canada joined the U.S. Federal Reserve and European central banks in a coordinated half percentage-point cut of interest rates.

Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada's second-largest lender, rose 3.1 percent to C$57.86. Bank of Montreal gained 4.9 percent to C$40.95.

Barrick Gold, the biggest bullion mining company, fell 2.1 percent to C$39.20, after rising 19 percent yesterday.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Kipphoff in Montreal at jkipphoff@bloomberg.net.