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Roundup: Canada's main stock market gains further rally over ECB quantitative easing

Xinhua, January 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Toronto Stock Exchange, Canada's main stock market, hailed another rally on Thursday as the European Central Bank (ECB) launched the long-awaited quantitative easing program, which will be used to stimulate the economy in Euro zone.

Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index rallied 203.56 points, or 1.4 percent, to close at 14,763.98 points, with seven of the major sectors in the rising streak.

Following a strong growth on Wednesday, the index Thursday soared for a second consecutive trading day to its highest level in two weeks, when the North American equities markets were boosted by the bigger-than-expected economic stimulus program on Thursday.

ECB President Mario Draghi said at a press conference following the bank's policy meeting that "the combined monthly purchases of public and private sector securities will amount to 60 billion euros. They are intended to be carried out until end-September 2016."

The most heavily weighted sector Financials added 0.78 percent, when Toronto-Dominion Bank soared 1.75 percent to 51.84 Canadian dollars (about 41.80 U.S. dollars) per share.

Telecom led the gainers in TSX, up 2.13 percent as Telus Corp. jumped 3.63 percent to 44.20 Canadian dollars, and Rogers Communications Inc. also increased 1.81 percent to 46.73 Canadian dollars.

ECB's move also pushed up the gold shares. The world's biggest gold producer Barrick Gold Corp. climbed 1.15 percent to 15.87 Canadian dollars, as February gold bullion contract was up 7 U.S. dollars to 1,300.7 dollars per ounce on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Energy rose 0.88 percent as Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. rallied 1.14 percent to 36.23 Canadian dollars, and Suncor Energy gained 1.79 percent to 37.05 Canadian dollars.

Other gainers included Industrials, ahead 1.75 percent, as Canadian National Railway Company surged 3.92 percent to 86.33 Canadian dollars.

However, the metals and mining sector dipped 0.08 percent, when First Quantum Minerals Ltd. slumped 2.95 percent to 14.15 Canadian dollars.

In companies' news, Royal Bank of Canada announced Thursday that it has entered into a merger agreement to acquire City National Corporation, a premier U.S. private and commercial bank. The Canadian biggest lender fell 2.48 percent to 74.71 Canadian dollars in its stock price.

On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday morning that the number of people receiving regular employment insurance benefits in November totaled 490,500 or 0.3 percent, little changed from the previous month.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar lost ground to close at 0.8062 U.S. dollar on Thursday, compared with 0.8107 U.S. dollar in Wednesday's trading. Endite