Roundup: Canadian stock rebounds as resource shares rally
Xinhua, March 21, 2015 Adjust font size:
Canada's main stock market rose on Friday as gains in the commodity prices strengthened miners shares.
The benchmark Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index rallied 68.48 points, or 0.46 percent, to 14,942.41 points.
The metal and mining sector surged 6.14 percent when May copper contract moved up 10.1 U.S. cents to 2.761 U.S. dollars per pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Teck Resources Ltd., the Canadian copper and other basic metals producer, climbed 7.21 percent to 18.88 Canadian dollars (about 15. 01 U.S. dollars). And another heavyweight in this sector, First Quantum Minerals Ltd. even jumped 10.45 percent to 15.01 Canadian dollars.
Gold price also lifted the TSX market as April gold bullion contract jumped 15.6 U.S. dollars to 1,184.6 dollars per ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Goldcorp Inc. gained 1.89 percent to 24.30 Canadian dollars while Barrick Gold Corp. rose 0.79 percent to 14.02 Canadian dollars.
Energy sector advanced 1.03 percent as Cenovus Energy Inc. added 1.11 percent to 21.04 Canadian dollars and Suncor Energy Inc. increased 0.11 percent to 35.45 Canadian dollars per share.
Financials, the most heavily weighed sector, edged up 1.14 percent. Royal Bank of Canada rallied 0.99 percent to 76.39 Canadian dollars and Bank of Nova Scotia grew 0.63 percent to 63. 46 Canadian dollars.
However, healthcare sector bucked the trend, dropping 1.23 percent. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. plunged 2.49 percent to 254 Canadian dollars, while Catamaran Corp. lost 0.97 percent to 62 Canadian dollars.
Among other sectors, info-tech and industrials gave back 0.93 percent and 0.33 percent, respectively.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported on Friday that the Consumer Price Index rose 1.0 percent in the 12 months to February, matching the increase in January. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the Consumer Price Index rose 0.2 percent in February, following a 0.2 percent decrease in January.
Moreover, retail sales decreased for the second consecutive month in January, declining 1.7 percent to 41.4 billion Canadian dollars.
On the currency front, the Canadian dollar climbed to 0.7950 U. S. dollar on Friday, compared with 0.7858 U.S. dollars on Thursday. Endite