Roundup: Canadian stock market rises over non-resources shares rally

Canada's main stock market in Toronto Thursday advanced for a second consecutive day over a rally in non-resource-related sectors, when the market gradually digested the negative impact of Greece debt default.

Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index gained 84.66 points or 0.58 percent to 14,637.99 points. The Toronto stock market was closed on Wednesday for Canada Day, the national day of Canada.

The index was strengthened with six of the eight major sectors I the green.

Industrials led the gainers by 1.38 percent when Canada's aircraft and railway maker Bombardier Inc. rallied 2.22 percent to 2.3 Canadian dollars (about 1.83 U.S. dollars) per share.

Info Tech and Health Care increased 1.34 percent and 1.26 percent respectively when Constellation Software Inc. jumped 2.55 percent to 508.52 Canadian dollars and the drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International soared 3.48 percent to 286.7 Canadian dollars.

And the most heavily weighed sector Financials also rebounded slightly by 0.09 percent, after it was rattled on a big slump on Monday.

Toronto-Dominion Bank added 0.11 percent to 53.10 Canadian dollars apiece.

Investors turned to non-resource-related sectors as a defensive investment strategy in their portfolios, when the resources shares are becoming more sensitive to the turbulence of the commodities prices, as the Greece financial crisis thickens and the country prepares for a referendum that could result in its departure from the European Union and Euro zone.

Paul Blustein, a senior fellow from the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), told Xinhua that the alternative for Greece is to sign up for the austerity plan, "if only Greece's European creditors were enlightened enough to offer a program of deep economic reform and debt relief that held out some promise of recovery, and if only the current Greek government were enlightened enough to show convincingly that it could deliver. "

By contrast, resources group, the energy sector and the mining sector, dropped 0.18 percent and 1.03 individually when the commodities prices were in the losing streak.

On the economic beat, Canadian economic growth suffered a fourth consecutive monthly decline in April, raising the risk of a second consecutive quarterly contraction, and risks of another Bank of Canada rate cut rose this week, according to a report issues by TD Bank Thursday.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar Thursday was lower to 0.7971 U.S. dollar, compared with 0.8006 U.S. dollar on Tuesday. Endite