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Roundup: Canadian stock market hits two-week high on energy rally

Xinhua, May 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

Canada's stocks in Toronto Thursday rose to a two-week high as a rally in energy shares, bolstered by higher oil prices, eclipsed selloffs in metals and info-tech sectors.

Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index soared 130.78 points, or 0.87 percent, to 15,203.61 points, posting the biggest single-day increase since March 16.

Five of the eight major sectors were in the rising streak, with the energy sector leading the rally by adding 2.24 percent.

Oil prices gained Thursday as market expected rising demand will ease the global oversupply concern. Light, sweet crude for July delivery moved up 1.74 U.S. dollars to settle at 60.72 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The oil and gas giants Encana jumped 3.49 percent to 16.62 Canadian dollars (about 13.61 U.S. dollars), while Suncor Energy advanced 1.21 percent to 36.85 Canadian dollars. And the oil pipeline provider Enbridge Inc. also surged 2.62 percent to 62.67 Canadian dollars.

Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, was up 0. 70 percent as Royal Bank of Canada increased 0.97 percent to 80.37 Canadian dollars and Toronto-Dominion Bank rose 0.45 percent to 56. 13 Canadian dollars.

By contrast, metals shares led the decline by 2.44 percent when First Quantum Minerals Ltd. slumped 5.74 percent to 16.26 Canadian dollars. And Teck Resources Ltd. tumbled 1.51 percent to 15.64 Canadian dollars per share as well.

Meanwhile, info-tech dropped sharply 2.07 percent as its leading company Open Text Corp. tumbled 13.33 percent to 51.80 Canadian dollars, after the software announced Wednesday that it planned to cut five per cent of its global workforce of more than 8,000.

Thursday also witnessed mixed performances in other sectors. Industrials and telecom gained 0.79 percent and 0.75 percent, respectively, while utilities dipped 0.28 percent.

On the economic front, Statistics Canada announced on Thursday that the number of the people who receive regular jobless benefits in March was 517,900, slightly higher 1.1 percent from February.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar on Thursday moved lower to 0.8191 U.S. dollar, compared with 0.8199 U.S. dollar on Wednesday. Endite