Canadian stocks rise as health care sector soars

Canada's main stock market in Toronto climbed on Thursday for the third session this week as health care stocks contributed to the strong showing.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index gained 92.87 points, or 0.63 percent, to close at 14,826.09 points. Eight of the 10 sub-sectors gained ground on the day.

Health Care stocks surged 2.94 percent as favourable results from a clinical trial on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients saw ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. shares jump 7.81 percent to 2.90 Canadian dollars (2.15 U.S. dollars).

The IPF is currently an incurable fatal chronic disease that results in progressive decline in lung function.

Meanwhile, Laval-based drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals recovered from news of the arrest of two former executives by U.S. Attorney's office in New York due to a multi-million dollar fraud scheme. Valeant shares dipped as low as 6.87 percent in early trading but recovered to close at 24.30 Canadian dollars (17.98 U.S. dollars), a 1.12 percent gain.

Consumer discretionary sector, which consists of firms that provide non-essentials products and services such as automobiles, apparel and entertainment, climbed 1.34 percent.

Automobile supplier Magna International shares rose 1.36 percent while shares of Restaurant Brands International, the parent company of international food brands such as Burger King and Tim Hortons, grew 2.85 percent.

Sectors that also had strong a day were Industrials and Financials, rising 1.19 percent and 0.85 percent, respectively.

On the losing end were heavyweights Energy and Materials groups, fading 0.06 percent and 0.81 percent, respectively.

The energy group's drop was in concert with Brent crude for January delivery falling 0.73 percent to 46.01 U.S. dollars for a barrel. Shares of Calgary-based energy maker Baytex Energy Corp. retreated 1.14 percent to 5.21 Canadian dollars (3.86 U.S. dollars).

Suncor Energy Inc. shares leaped 0.51 percent to 41.22 Canadian dollars (30.51 U.S. dollars) after the company released their 2017 corporate guidance which indicated plans to increase production by more than 13 percent while decreasing capital costs by 1 billion Canadian dollars.

The decline in Materials group, which comprise of miners of gold and other precious metals, was the result of gold prices slumping 8.20 U.S. dollars to 1,215.70 U.S. dollars an ounce. The spot price of bullion has dropped in four of the past five days.

Shares of Toronto-based gold miners Yamana Gold Inc. and Barrick Gold Corporation sank 2.12 percent and 1.48 percent, respectively.

On the economic side, Statistics Canada reported that foreign investment in Canadian securities between January and September this year reached a record high of 119.9 billion Canadian dollars, a 31.3 percent growth from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Canadians investing in foreign securities during the same period dropped 43.9 percent to 13.0 billion Canadian dollars.

The Canadian dollar fell to 0.7401 U.S. dollar on Thursday. Endit