Canadian stocks surge over China's economic data

Canada's main stock index shot up on Wednesday after bullish economic data from China boosted investor sentiment and helped drive gains in every major sector.

The benchmark Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index climbed for a third straight day by 142.6, or 1 percent, to close at 14,446.52 points. All the eight main weighing sectors of the index ended higher, with energy leading the rise, up 1.5 percent.

The Toronto index recorded its biggest single-day rise in more than two months and has been up about 6 percent so far this year.

China's economy expanded by 7.4 percent year on year in the first quarter. The growth rate was slower than the 7.7-percent expansion in the final quarter of 2013, but was slightly higher than a market consensus estimate of 7.3 percent.

Investor sentiment was also cheered by the news that the Bank of Canada held its benchmark interest rate at 1 percent, as expected, or where it's been for the last three-and-a-half years. But the central bank's head Stephen Poloz said an interest rate cut was still a possibility.

Meantime, Statistics Canada reported that foreign investment in Canadian securities moved higher 6.1 billion Canadian dollars (5.6 billion U.S. dollars) in February, mostly corporate instruments. This was matched by Canadian acquisitions of foreign securities at 6 billion Canadian dollars.

The Canadian dollar went down to 0.9087 U.S. dollar on Wednesday, compared with 0.9103 U.S. dollar on Tuesday.