Most actively traded companies on the TSX, TSX Venture Exchange markets

TORONTO – Some of the most active companies traded Tuesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange:

Toronto Stock Exchange (12,878.58 up 20.09 points):

TORC Oil and Gas Ltd. (TSX:TOG). Oil and gas. Up 19 cents, or 10.92 per cent, at $1.93 on 31.14 million shares. The Calgary-based energy company announced a big jump in reserves and production due to its acquisition of Vero Energy Inc. last year.

B2Gold Corp. (TSX:BTO). Miner. Up 19 cents, or 6.44 per cent, at $3.14 on 11.53 million shares.

Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX:CVE). Oil. Up 30 cents, or 0.92 per cent, at $33.07 on 10.73 million shares. The energy sector was up 0.14 per cent at 257.56 points, as price of crude oil inched up 48 cents US to $92.54 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

BlackBerry (TSX:BB). Wireless technology. Down 46 cents, or 3.01 per cent, at $14.83 on 9.64 million shares. Presales of the smartphone pioneer’s newest device, the touchscreen BlackBerry Z10, started today in the U.S.

First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (TSX:FM). Miner. Up five cents, or 0.24 per cent, at $20.69 on 8.86 million shares. The Vancouver-based company extended its $5.1-billion hostile takeover bid for Inmet Mining Corp. (TSX:IMN) to March 21. Its previous deadline expired at midnight Monday night with some 61.45 per cent of outstanding Inmet shares having been tendered to its offer. The Inmet board has rejected the $72 per share bid — half in cash and half in stock — as inadequate. Inmet’s stock was up $1.35, or 1.97 per cent, at $69.98 on 3.14 million shares.

Thomson Reuters Corp. (TSX:TRI). Data and information provider. Up 16 cents, or 0.50 per cent, at $32.02 on 6.9 million shares.

TSX Venture Exchange (1,119.15 up 2.88 points):

Pinecrest Energy Inc. (TSXV:PRY). Oil and gas. Down three cents, or 2.94 pe cent, at 99 cents on 6.62 million shares.

EastCoal Inc. (TSXV:ECX). Miner. Down 1.5 cents, or 21.43 per cent, at 5.5 cents on 6.27 million shares. The Vancouver-based company announced it will shed about 400 jobs at its two mines in Ukraine, about a third of the people it employs in the country. EastCoal also said it restarted its wash plant at Menzhinsky mine at the end of February.

Companies reporting major news:

Alamos Gold Inc. (TSX:AGI). Miner. Up 19 cents, or 1.30 per cent, at $14.75 on 410,641 shares. The Toronto-based company asked the B.C. Securities Commission to remove a “poison pill” anti-takeover defence erected by Aurizon Mines Ltd. (TSX:ARZ). The original Aurizon shareholder rights plan expired March 4 when Hecla Mining Co. came forward with a rival, friendly offer. The stock of Aurizon Mines rose four cents, or 0.89 per cent, at $4.55 on 1.46 million shares.

CAE Inc. (TSX:CAE). Flight simulator. Up seven cents, or 0.69 per cent, at $10.28 on 434,122 shares after the company announced a spate of new long-term commercial training and services contracts valued at about $245 million in total. The deals span four continents and involved South American-based LAN and TAM Airlines, Turkish Airlines, GE Capital Aviation Services, JetBlue Airways for simulator upgrades and Ryanair.

Talisman Energy (TSX:TLM). Oil and gas. Up 12 cents, or 0.96 per cent, at $12.56 on 5.57 million shares. The Calgary-based company signed a deal with SBM Offshore to cancel and scrap its Yme project in the North Sea, which has faced a number of problems and delays. Talisman said a new solution is needed in order to develop the Yme field.