US shares closed mixed on Monday with the broad S&P500 posting light gains on a rise in oil prices but smaller caps easing on a flurry of local events.
The S&P500 bellwether was up 0.1% at 2,051, after a fairly listless session benefited from firmness in US oil prices. The benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 1.2% at $39.91, but off last Thursday's highest levels of the year at $40.20.
The S&P Midcap 400 was flat at 1,429.
The S&P Smallcap 600 was down 0.3% at 676. Meanwhile, the small-cap Russell 200 fell 0.3% to 1,098. However, OvaScience Inc (NASDAQ:OVAS) was the second-largest riser in the Russell 2000 index, up 21% to $10.58 after it emerged chief executive officer Michelle Dipp bought 59,029 shares at an average price of $7.90 a pop last week.
Mid-session
The New York bourse was higher as oil extended gains at midsession on Monday, but smaller cap tickers were underforming.
The S&P500 bellwether was up 0.12% at 2,051, after a fairly listless session benefited from firmness in US oil prices. The benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 1.6% at $40.06, but off last Thursday's highest levels of the year at $40.20.
The S&P Midcap 400 was close to flat, 0.05% lower at 1,429. The midcap fallers were led by global renewable energy company SunEdison (NYSE:SUNE), down 6.1% at $2.00, after its yieldco TerraForm Global canceled an deal to purchase a Central American renewable-energy developer, Bloomberg reported. Under the terms of the deal, SunEdison would have obtained the company's developmental pipeline. The deal has since been called off after certain asset lenders failed to issue consents before a March 12 deadline.
The S&P Smallcap 600 was down 0.3% at 676, led by Bio-Pharma group Affymetrix (NYSE:AFFX), down 9.7% at $14.44, after reporting that it will stick with a previous deal to be acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO), and rejecting a higher, competing offer. In January, Affymetrix, a gene analyst, agreed to sell itself to Thermo Fisher Scientific, a multinational medical instruments company, for $1.3bn in cash, or $14 per share.
But, in hopes of derailing that offer, former Affymetrix executives clubbed together to start Origin Technologies, and on March 7, offered $1.5bn, or $16.10 in cash, to Affymetrix shareholders. The Affymetrix board cited lack of corporate history in rejecting Origin's overture.
Elsewhere, the small-cap Russell 2000 index was down 0.2% at 1,099.
Open
Stocks have got off to a sluggish start, with little in the way of economic news flow to get the animal spirits stirring.
The blue-chip benchmark, the S&P 500, was off four points at 2,045 after 45 minutes of trading, while the mid-cap measure, the S&P 400, was down three points at 1,427.
The small-caps index, the Russell 2,000, was having a better time of it, up one point at 1,103.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc's (NYSE:VRX) shares responded well to news that chief executive Michael Pearson is to leave the beleaguered pharmaceuticals company as soon as a successor can be found.
The shares were up by around 11% at $30.20.
CombiMatrix Corp (NASDAQ:CBMX) shares tumbled 18% to $4.40 as the molecular diagnostics company priced its $8mln underwritten public offering of 8,000 units of Series F convertible preferred stock and warrants at $1,000 per unit.
Sector peer OvaScience Inc (NASDAQ:OVAS) went the other way, rising 7.8% to $9.43 after it emerged chief executive officer Michelle Dipp bought 59,029 shares at an average price of $7.90 a pop last week.