Roundup: Canadian stock market edges up after central bank's interest rate decision

Canada's stock market in Toronto Wednesday rose slightly after the Canadian central bank kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged.

Following a big slump Tuesday, Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index bounced up 59.66 points, or 0.4 percent, to 15,110.47 points, as six of the eight major sectors gained momentum.

The Bank of Canada, Canada's central bank, Wednesday announced that it is maintaining its target for the overnight rate at 0.75 percent, which is in line with market institutions' expectation.

Financials, the sector which is the most sensitive to the central bank's interest rate change, advanced 0.4 percent with big banks in the rising streak.

Royal Bank of Canada climbed 0.46 percent to 79.94 Canadian dollars (about 64.16 U.S. dollars) while Toronto-Dominion Bank strengthened 0.52 percent to 55.98 Canadian dollars.

Industrials led the gainers by 1.38 percent when Air Canada soared 8.03 percent to 13.59 Canadian dollars after the Canada's biggest air liner announced Tuesday after the closing bell a number of product upgrades to give customers more personal space and convenience on its leisure airline, Air Canada rouge.

However, Wednesday witnessed mixed performances in resources sectors with Metals and mining up 1.02 percent while Energy down 0. 73 percent.

The falling oil price Wednesday was the major reason for the slump in energy companies. Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. lost 2.96 percent to 10.81 Canadian dollars, and the Calgary-based oil producer Crescent Point Energy Corp. dived 5.47 percent to 28.19 Canadian dollars after it announced Tuesday that it had entered into an arrangement agreement to acquire another oil and gas company Legacy.

In other sectors performances, Health Care added 0.37 percent when Telecom inched up 0.18 percent, but Info Tech retreated equivalently 0.44 percent after Tuesday's gain.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar Wednesday traded lower to 0.8026 U.S. dollar, compared with 0.8047 U.S. dollar on Tuesday, as investors were still in uncertainty about the Canadian economic outlook.

The central bank said Wednesday that the economic growth is relatively positive in the second quarter under the context of lower oil prices.

But, according to Brian DePratto, an economist from TD Bank, " the outlook for Canadian growth remains in many ways contingent on external developments, particularly the evolution of both crude oil prices and the U.S. economy." Endite