Canada's S&P/TSX Erases Drop as RIM, Agrium, Suncor Advance

By John Kipphoff

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Canada's main stock index rose, erasing an earlier decline, as Research In Motion Ltd. rebounded after agreeing to put Microsoft Corp.'s Web-search engine on its BlackBerry phones.

Agrium Inc. gained the most in almost a month and paced a rally in raw-materials producers after the fertilizer maker's chief executive officer, Mike Wilson, said he'll buy more shares in the company to profit from increasing global demand for grains and agriculture products.

Suncor Energy Inc. paced a turnaround in energy shares even as crude-oil prices extended a decline. Financial companies declined, led by Toronto-Dominion Bank, after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s plunge in New York fanned concern a global credit crisis is worsening.

The Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index rose 0.7 percent to 12,589.14 at 12 p.m. in Toronto as 125 stocks advanced and 119 declined. The S&P/TSX dropped as much as 1.9 percent earlier.

Research In Motion gained 3.1 percent to C$115.89 after trading as low as C$108.40. Microsoft's Live Search will be available on BlackBerry handsets this year, the companies said in an e-mailed statement today.

Agrium climbed 6 percent to C$79.48, the most since Aug. 13. Wilson said he'll also discuss implementing a share buyback program with the company's board. The shares were down 35 percent from a June record before today.

Larger rival Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. climbed 5.5 percent to C$161.45.

Suncor Energy, the second-biggest oil-sands producer, added 4 percent to C$48.63. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the nation's fourth-largest energy company by market value, gained 3.8 percent to C$81.97.

Toronto-Dominion, Canada's second-biggest lender by assets, fell 1.2 percent to C$62.41. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce dropped 2.4 percent to C$63.55.

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