Roundup: Canadian stock market extends gains amid overseas monetary easing policies

Canada's main stock market in Toronto on Friday followed the rising streak amid overseas monetary easing policies, offsetting the negative impact of falling commodities prices.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index added 75.55 points, or 0.54 percent, to settle at 13,953.66 points to conclude the trading this week.

Energy and Utilities dropped 1.01 percent and 0.75 percent, respectively, when the oil prices lowered slightly Friday. The biggest oil and gas producer Suncor Energy Inc. lost 1.6 percent to 37.50 Canadian dollars (about 28.46 Canadian dollars) a share, and Canadian Utilities Ltd., the Calgary-based electricity and natural gas distributor, declined 1.11 percent to 36.61 Canadian dollars per share.

But the losses were overpowered by overseas monetary easing policies when the People's Bank of China (PBOC) on Friday cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) of banks and the benchmark interest rates, saying from Saturday the RRR for financial institutions across China will be slashed by 0.5 percentage points, to further reduce the cost of financing, and benchmark interest rates will also be cut, to ensure reasonably adequate liquidity in the banking system.

And European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi also hinted a further economic stimulus in the form of bond buying Thursday.

"The 25 basis point rate cut and 50 basis point RRR cut are intended to support growth, which has continued to slide in the second half (year), and offset capital outflows as expectations of yuan depreciation grow," Tom Orlik, Bloomberg Chief Asia Economist, told Xinhua Friday.

Six of the eight most weighed sectors in TSX were gaining momentum amid the positive outlook for the stable growth of China, the biggest commodities consumer in the world.

The mining sector was boosted by 2.2 percent in spite of lower gold and basic metals prices; and the financial sector was also higher 0.72 percent.

And the Health Care, up 3.17 percent, was the biggest gainer by percentage, when Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. rebounded sharply from big consecutive slumps this week. The drug maker's stock jumped 6 percent to 152.69 Canadian dollars a share.

On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported Friday that Canada's Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 1 percent in the 12 months to September, after increasing 1.3 percent in August.

Both the monthly and annual rates were 0.1 percentage point below market expectations. "The decline in overall prices was due in large part to a 7.9 percent drop in gasoline prices, which marked the largest monthly decline in the component since January," according to a report released by Royal Bank of Canada Friday.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar on Friday lowered to 0.7590 U.S. dollar, when compared with 0.7630 U.S. dollar Thursday, after the downbeat CPI data. Endit