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Roundup: Canadian stock market inches higher as financials rally offsets energy slump

Xinhua, May 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

Canada's stocks in Toronto eked out a slight gain Tuesday as financials shares lifted the trading sentiment amid the oil plunge.

Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 12.90 points, or 0.09 percent, to 15,121.02 points.

Resources shares led the decline. Energy was down 1.39 percent due to the plunging oil prices. The most active crude oil price for July delivery slumped 2.25 U.S. dollars to a three-week low 57. 99 dollars per barrel on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Meanwhile, shares of oil and gas companies were also weighed by the remarks from the Canadian central bank. Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz said on Tuesday that the drop in oil prices and the consequent lower Canadian dollar are the setback for the Canadian economy.

Suncor Energy Inc. plunged 1.23 percent to 36.13 Canadian dollars (about 29.54 U.S. dollars), and Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. tumbled 3.33 percent to 11.03 Canadian dollars per share.

Another resources group Metals and Mining dropped sharply by 2. 67 percent. The basic metals giants Teck Resources Ltd. dived 4.15 percent to 15.92 Canadian dollars and First Quantum Minerals Ltd. lost 6.38 percent to 17.45 Canadian dollars.

Other losers included industrials and telecom, down 0.44 percent and 0.18 percent, respectively.

However, Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, rallied 1.08 percent, offsetting the selloffs in the resources sectors, after Poloz said the central bank is struggling to get a good reading on inflation and he was comfortable leaving the bank' s key overnight interest rate unchanged at 0.75 percent.

Some market institutions once predicted last week that the central bank may lower its benchmark interest rates again later in the year due to the oil slump.

Most of giant banks gained momentum, when Canada's biggest lenders Royal Bank of Canada rose 1.66 percent to 80.09 Canadian dollars and Toronto-Dominion Bank soared 1.32 percent to 56.09 Canadian dollars apiece.

Health care led the market increase by 2.69 percent when the drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. jumped 3.26 percent to 278.82 Canadian dollars, and Catamaran Corp. climbed 1. 74 percent to 73.66 Canadian dollars.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar on Tuesday tumbled to 0.8175 U.S. dollar, compared with 0.8318 U.S. dollar last Friday, amid the lowering oil prices and the stronger U.S. dollar. Endite