Canadian Equity Preview

The following is a list of companies whose shares may have unusual price changes in Canadian markets today. This preview includes news that broke after markets closed yesterday. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names and prices are from the last close.

The Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index gained 78.04, or 0.6 percent, to 13,741.92, yesterday in Toronto.

EnCana Corp. (ECA CN): Canada's biggest natural-gas company was downgraded to ``hold'' from ``buy'' by Richard Wyman at Canaccord Adams. The Calgary, Alberta-based analyst expects the stock to fall to C$65 within 12 months. The shares added C$1.05, or 1.6 percent, to C$66.43.

InterOil Corp. (IOL CN): Canada's Market Regulation Services Inc., an independent regulation-services provider for Canadian equity markets, will probe why the shares of InterOil, a developer of oil and natural-gas assets in Papua New Guinea, dropped 27 percent on June 26 in Toronto, in the absence of a news release, Mike Prior, director of market surveillance at Market Regulation, said in a phone interview from Toronto

Shares of InterOil fell C$6.53, or 19 percent, to C$27.96 yesterday, after the company sent a press release saying that a well in Papua New Guinea needs to be drilled deeper to determine whether it's commercial. David Larson, listed as a contact for InterOil in the news release, didn't return Bloomberg News calls yesterday or today.

Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (IVN CN): The company that's developing the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold deposit in Mongolia with Rio Tinto Group will build a copper smelter in Mongolia to process ore from the mine. Ivanhoe will build the smelter to avoid the application of a windfall-profit tax that was being considered by the Mongolian government, Nick Cobban, Rio Tinto's London-based spokesman, said today in a phone interview. Rio Tinto has a 10 percent stake in the mining company. Ivanhoe shares rose 62 cents, or 4.3 percent, to C$15.15.

First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (FM CN): Citigroup Investment Research increased its share-price forecast for the miner of copper in Africa by 25 percent to the equivalent of C$106.40 (5,000 pence). The shares fell 64 cents, or 0.7 percent, to C$89.

Meridian Gold Inc. (MNG CN): Shares of Meridian, which mines for bullion in Chile, rose the most in more than six years in Frankfurt, on a $3.06 billion joint takeover offer from Yamana Gold Inc. (YRI CN) and Northern Orion Resources Inc. (NNO CN). Yamana, a Toronto-based gold producer, yesterday agreed to buy Northern Orion for C$7.07 a share in stock. The new company would buy Reno, Nevada-based Meridian for stock and cash equal to C$32.25 a share, or 23 percent more than yesterday's closing price, Yamana said in a statement distributed by CCNMatthews.

Meridian Gold added 6 cents, or 0.2 percent, to C$26.21, yesterday in Toronto. Northern Orion shares rose 11 cents, or 1.9 percent, to C$5.83, while Yamana Gold climbed 39 cents, or 3.1 percent, to C$13.02.

Telus Corp. (T CN): Canada's second-largest phone company, which withdraw this week from an auction of larger rival BCE Inc., was raised to ``outperform'' from ``market perform'' by Peter Rhamey at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto. The analyst expects the stock to climb as much as 15 percent to C$73 within 12 months. The shares rose C$1.33, or 2.1 percent, to C$63.52.

Tesco Corp. (TEO CN): The oilfield services company was rated ``outperform'' in new coverage at Bear Stearns & Co. The shares gained 63 cents, or 2 percent, to C$31.62.

source:bloomberg.com