Off the wire
• Database documents fatal police shootings in U.S., testifying to cops' abuse of force, lack of training  • IMF welcomes Mozambique's progress on structural reforms  • Russia warns of sabotage of Minsk agreements, peace progress in Ukraine  • Interview: Important synergies exist between Junker Plan and "One Belt One Road" initiative, says MEP  • German Chancellor Merkel to visit Albania on July 8  • Commentary: China, EU to strengthen strategic cooperation  • Dialogue remains only way to resolve Ukraine crisis: Chinese diplomat  • Rwanda cautiously welcomes France decision to extradite genocide suspect  • German chancellor to visit BiH  • Greek PM urges voters to reject lenders' ultimatum during final rallies ahead of referendum  
You are here: 　 Home

Roundup: Canadian stock market closes higher as financials regains strength

Xinhua, July 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market in Toronto Friday concluded higher with a modest gain for three trading days in a row, after the financials shares regained strength.

Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index edged higher 44.4 points or 0.3 percent to 14,682. 39 points.

The most heavily weighed sector Financials was higher 0.61 percent, rising for a third consecutive day, which helped trim losses from a 2.45 percent slump on Monday.

Shares of most giant banks were in the winning streak with the most influential mover Royal Bank of Canada made a solid gain. Its share advanced 0.66 percent to 76.71 Canadian dollars (about 61.08 U.S. dollars).

Investors are waiting for the outcome of Greece's referendum on this weekend on whether to accept tough conditions in exchange for a bailout program for its shattered economy.

With no influential domestic economic issued on Friday, investors are gradually digesting the negative impact of Greece debt default on the global capital markets.

However, the market sentiment was weighed after Statistics Canada reported a downbeat economic growth data on Tuesday, saying that the Canadian economy contracted for four months in a row, and the oil and mining sectors are suffering slowdowns.

The energy sector was lower 0.36 percent when the oil prices were in the negative territory. The biggest oil and gas producer in Canada Suncor Energy Inc. inched lower 0.09 percent to 34.6 Canadian dollars.

Other losers included Health Care, down 0.32 percent when Catamaran Corp, a provider of pharmacy benefit management services and healthcare IT solutions, lowered 0.47 percent to 76.38 Canadian dollars per share.

On the economic beat, Canada Finance Minister Joe Oliver told media Friday that "We don't believe we will be in a recession," he believe that it's too early to say the country is in a recession.

Basically, a recession technically means two consecutive quarters with negative GDP growth.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar Friday was lower to 0.7962 U.S. dollar, compared with 0.7971 U.S. dollar on Thursday. Endite