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Roundup: Canada's stock gains momentum over central bank's optimism on growth

Xinhua, September 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market in Toronto on Monday recovered from a steep drop as Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz showed optimism about the country's economic growth.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index regained 132.54 points, or 0.97 percent, to closed at 13,779.44 points, with financial and energy shares leading the increase.

In a speech at Calgary Economic Development's 2016 Economic Outlook event, Poloz said that the Canadian economy is able to deal with the challenges posed by large movements in resource prices.

The Canadian economy has been weighed as the global oil prices vapored almost 50 percent in the past year.

Governor Poloz said that swings in resource prices signal that economic adjustments are needed, meanwhile the businesses and policy-makers need to be flexible in the face of volatile resource prices and an uncertain future.

The most influential sector, financials, up 1.72 percent, logged the biggest gain when most of big insurance companies and banks moved higher.

Manulife Financial Corp. jumped 3.23 percent to 21.08 Canadian dollars (about 15.92 U.S. dollars) while Toronto-Dominion Bank rose 1.82 percent to 52.60 Canadian dollars.

Energy advanced 1.66 percent, following a rally in oil prices on Monday, with the light, sweet crude for October delivery up 2 U.S. dollars to settle at 46.68 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Suncor Energy gained 2.2 percent to 34.8 Canadian dollars and Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. soared 5.42 percent to 6.81 Canadian dollars per share.

However, metals and mining, another heavily-weighed resource sector in TSX, suffered the biggest loss by 5.02 percent, as its leading company First Quantum Minerals Ltd. tumbled 9.35 percent to 6.3 Canadian dollars. The copper producer has shrunk 70 percent in the past year due to the falling basic metals prices.

Meanwhile, another loser -- health care -- lost 1.92 as the drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. waned 4.89 percent to 15.59 Canadian dollars.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar Monday lowered to 0.7550 U.S. dollar, from Friday's 0.7566 U.S. dollar.

Analysts believed that the low level of the Canadian dollar is expected to boost Canadian exports.

A report issued by TD Bank on Monday showed, "over the longer-term, export growth is expected to moderate somewhat, but remain supportive of growth, helped by a loonie (nickname for the Canadian dollar) that remains at or below 85 U.S. cents." Enditem