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CA-BUSINESS Summary

09/11/08

Flaherty sees delayed benefits of weaker Canadian dollar

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian manufacturers will eventually benefit from a sharp drop in Canada's dollar by encouraging exports to the United States, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said, but in the short term, the volatility will disrupt planning by businesses. Flagging U.S. demand means auto-related businesses and other manufacturers in Ontario and Quebec will not immediately reap the benefits of the weakened Canadian dollar, Flaherty said in an interview with Bloomberg News that appeared on its website late Saturday.

GM to temporarily cut 500 jobs at Ontario plant

TORONTO (Reuters) - General Motors of Canada said on Friday it will temporarily lay off 500 workers at its Oshawa, Ontario, car plant as the U.S. economic slowdown slashes sales of cars and trucks. "Because of the tough U.S. market, what we're doing is slowing the line rate of the Impala line at the Oshawa car plant, and that impacts 500 people that will go on temporary layoff until we have recovery in the U.S. economy," GM Canada spokesman Stew Low told Reuters.

Hyundai Motor denies interest in Chrysler assets

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co <005380.KS> on Saturday denied its interest in Chrysler's assets, adding it had no capacity for a new acquisition as it focused on completing construction of overseas plants. On Friday, Reuters reported Hyundai had had talks with Chrysler LLC owner Cerberus Capital Management about a potential acquisition of the struggling U.S. automaker's Jeep brand and possibly other assets, citing people with knowledge of the talks.

GM and Ford losses, cash burn dire

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co reported far deeper-than-expected quarterly losses on Friday and said their rate of cash burn had accelerated, as an extended slump in car sales raised questions about the future of the U.S. auto industry. Both companies said they would take aggressive steps to cut costs further. The two largest U.S. automakers reported third-quarter results after the world's No. 1 automaker, Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T>, slashed its profit forecast for the year.

Ottawa commits to addressing auto industry concern

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Industry Minister Tony Clement met most of the Canadian auto industry's top brass on Thursday and said on Friday he was committed with the Ontario government to addressing their concerns. "As the newly appointed minister, I want to assure Canadians that I am very sensitive to the hardships our country, and especially our manufacturing sector, are facing," he said in a statement. "Yesterday, I met with CEOs from (the Canadian branches of) GM , Chrysler , Toyota <7203.T>, Magna , Linamar and spoke to the CEO of Ford and listened to their concerns about the future. I also met with Michael Bryant, Ontario's minister of economic development, and we are committed to working together to address these issues."

Guinea cancels Aredor diamond mining license

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea has canceled a diamond mining license held by Aredor, which is 85 percent owned by Toronto-listed Azure Resources Corp , the government said on Saturday. Aredor is the largest diamond mining operator in the West African country but the government accused it earlier this year of having stopped all activities for three years despite promising various ministers it would restart its operations.

Roche sticks by $43.7 billion Genentech bid: report

ZURICH (Reuters) - Roche Holding AG is sticking by its $43.7 billion offer to buy out the rest of Genentech Inc it does not already own, its pharmaceuticals chief said in an interview published on Sunday. The Swiss drugmaker, which already holds 56 percent of Genentech, has had its July offer to buy out the remainder of its U.S. biotech partner rebuffed.

Hunkering down in the oil sands

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Canada's once-burgeoning oil sands industry has had a reversal of fortune as the world financial crisis has instilled discipline in companies that just months ago were concerned only with growth. And that has prompted a shake-out.

TSX gets boost from firmer resources

TORONTO (Reuters) - The Toronto Stock Exchange's main index edged higher on Friday after two days of heavy losses, as commodity issues benefited from firmer oil and gold prices and investors paused to reassess the market's direction. The energy sector climbed 1 percent as oil ticked higher to $61.04 a barrel, although it had fallen at one point on a bleak U.S. October jobs report.

Oil rises as U.S. jobs data hits dollar

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil rose slightly on Friday as the dollar slumped following bleak employment data in the United States, the world's top energy consumer. U.S. crude settled up 27 cents to $61.04 a barrel off earlier highs of $62.82 a barrel. London Brent crude for December settled down 8 cents at $57.35 a barrel.

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