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Canadian stock market edges up on surging medical shares

Xinhua, March 3, 2015 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market stayed in the positive territory Monday when the medical shares rallied, offsetting the weakness in resources stocks.

Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 29.71 points, or 0.2 percent, to 15,264.05 points, with half of the eight major sectors in the rising streak.

Healthcare strengthened 2.56 percent when shares of its heavyweight Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. jumped 3. 52 percent to 254.95 Canadian dollars (about 203.4 U.S. dollars) apiece, and Extendicare Inc. advanced 2.74 percent to 7.12 Canadian dollars per share.

Gains were also seen in Info Tech, which logged 1.87 percent increase when CGI Group Inc. rallied 2.75 percent to 53.75 Canadian dollars a share.

Resources shares lost ground as Statistics Canada reported Monday that the country's total exports of goods declined by 3.4 billion Canadian dollars to reach 131.8 billion Canadian dollars in the fourth quarter last year, led by a reduction in energy products.

Also, sluggish oil prices triggered investors' concern about the outlook of commodities prices, which in turn weighed on the shares of energy and mining companies.

The energy sector and the metals and mining sector shed 0.75 percent and 0.93 percent, individually.

The S&P/TSX Global Gold Index, a leading benchmark of global gold portfolios, shrank 2.21 percent in a single trading day when the investors at the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference in Toronto showed concern about the global bullion market.

Although the market is expected to become "warmer" next year and the year after that, the market will be still suffering some volatility this year based on many factors, including the strong U. S. dollar, Elena M. Kazimirova, financial analyst with China Gold International Resources Corp. Ltd., told Xinhua at PDAC Monday.

Most of the gold shares lost ground with Goldcorp Inc., falling 3.41 percent to 26.59 Canadian dollars.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar on Monday went lower to 0.7978 U.S. dollar from 0.7998 U.S. dollart Friday. Endite