Roundup: Canadian stocks inch higher to end February trading

Canada's main stock market in Toronto roller-coastered to close higher Monday as gains in oil and precious metals prices drove energy and gold mining stocks higher.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index added 47.07 points, or 0.37 percent, to close at 12,844.86 points. Seven of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors solidified their rally.

TSX was set to wipe out the losses it has had since the beginning of the month. The early trading sentiment was supported by the news from the Canadian federal government that it had ironed out legal details on Canada's free trade deal with the European Union.

The prices of oil were higher after strong gains last week on increasing hopes the market has bottomed out and as OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia said it would work with other producers to limit oil market volatility.

The West Texas Intermediate for April delivery moved up 97 cents to settle at 33.75 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for April delivery increased 87 cents to close at 35.97 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

TSX energy and mining sectors were up 2.01 percent and 1.26 percent respectively. North American energy producer Encana Corporation advanced 9.96 percent to 5.85 Canadian dollars (4.32 U.S. dollars) per share and Toronto-based Pacific Exploration & Production Corporation surged 26.67 percent to 1.33 Canadian dollars a share.

Gold was on track for its biggest monthly gain in four years, as Barrick Gold jumped 2.90 percent to 18.80 Canadian dollars a share, while Goldcorp Inc. popped 3.79 percent to 19.44 Canadian dollars each share.

The market was also buoyed by the decision of People's Bank of China with a 0.5 percentage point cut in the reserve requirement ratio to support the second biggest economy in the world.

"That should add impetus to already heady credit expansion, bolstering short-term growth," said Bloomberg chief Asia economist Tom Orlik and colleague Fielding Chen in a note sent to Xinhua. "By signaling heightened concerns from policy makers, it also risks adding to market fears and downward pressure on the yuan."

TSX financial group was up 0.55 percent with Manulife Financial Corporation growing 1.23 percent and Toronto-Dominion Bank increasing 0.42 percent.

Health care sector, down 3.86 percent, became the only decliner, dragged by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. with a landsliding 13.07 percent fall after the drug company said it postponed the release of fourth-quarter results planned for Monday and its CEO would return from medical leave effective immediately.

On the first day of trading in February, the TSX closed at 12,607 and it's been down more than three percent in the volatile trading that has marked this month and January.

The February gain has been led by the materials sector, which includes mining companies that have been helped by a surge in the price of precious metals. The price of gold has climbed 10.5 percent this month and silver is up 4 percent.

Global stock markets were mixed and did not share the optimism that emerged in North American trading. They were weighed down by the failure of the world's leading economic policymakers at the G20 meeting in China to announce any new measures to boost the global economy.

Finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of 20 rich and developing pledge more "growth-friendly" tax and spending policies in a general statement at the end of a weekend gathering. But investors were disappointed that no specific measures were mentioned.

The Shanghai market dropped 2.86 percent, Germany's DAX and the FTSE were down slightly and the Euro Stoxx index rose a modest 16 points. U.S. stocks ended lower Monday after volatile trading, as the Dow fell 0.74 percent, the S&P 500 lost 0.81 percent and the Nasdaq was down 0.71 percent.

On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported Monday that its industrial product price index rose 0.5 percent in January, mainly as a result of higher prices for motorized and recreational vehicles. Lower prices for energy and petroleum products largely moderated the increase in the index.

The raw materials price index declined 0.4 percent during the same month, weighed by lower prices for crude energy products.

The U.S. dollar has fallen in the past week, helping both commodities prices and oil prices.

The Canadian dollar was traded slightly lower at 0.7390 U.S. dollar, compared with Friday's closing rate of 0.7400 U.S. dollar. Enditem