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Canadian stock market end week flat

Xinhua, November 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market in Toronto finished Friday unchanged as gains in eight sectors neutralized a 3.5 percent dip in crude oil prices.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index inched up 0.24 points, with a change of less than one percentage point, to close the week at 15,075.44 points. Eight of the sub-sectors moved into positive territory during the session.

Utilities and Consumer Discretionary subgroups were the biggest risers on the day, gaining 0.91 percent and 0.87 percent, respectively.

Utilities group was powered by a 1.36 billion Canadian dollar (about 1.01 billion U.S. dollar) agreement between the Alberta government and three energy companies to shut down coal plants early. TransAlta, Capital Power Corp. and ATCO Ltd. agreed to receive a combined 97 million Canadian dollars (about 72 million U.S. dollars) over the next 14 years to end coal-based electricity by 2030 and transition to a cleaner form of energy.

Shares of TransAlta soared 17.09 percent to 7.33 Canadian dollars (5.42 U.S. dollars), while Capital Power Corp shares surged 9.58 percent to 23.44 Canadian dollars (17.33 U.S. dollars). ATCO stock price fell 0.58 percent to 42.99 Canadian dollars (31.79 U.S. dollars).

The Consumer Discretionary group, which consists of producers of non-essentials goods such as automobiles, apparel and entertainment gained following new takeover information by former executive of Montreal-based Amaya Inc. to privatize the company.

Shares jumped 6.97 percent to 20.10 Canadian dollars (14.86 U.S. dollars) as former CEO David Baazov, who owns approximately 17 percent stake in the company, listed Hong Kong firms Head and Shoulders Global Investment Fund and Goldenway Capital as his backers in his 3.45 billion Canadian dollar (about 2.55 billion U.S. dollar) bid to acquire the company.

Amaya is most known for being the parent company of Pokerstars, the world's largest online poker room in the world with an estimated market share of 71 percent. In total, Amaya has more than 105 million registered customers.

Other groups to come out ahead on Friday were Telecommunications (0.31 percent), Information Technology (0.28 percent), Financials (0.28 percent), Industrials (0.23 percent), Consumer Staples (0.23 percent), and Materials (0.03 percent).

On the losing side during the day were Energy and Health Care groups, sliding 1.66 percent and 1.22 percent, respectively.

Energy slipped as crude oil took a 3.56 percent tumble following news of Saudi Arabia officials backing out of meeting with Russia on Monday prior to meeting between Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members in Vienna on Nov. 30 to limit oil production. A barrel of Brent for January delivery fell 1.74 dollars to 47.12 U.S. dollars.

As a result, shares of Calgary-based energy producers Bayex Energy Corp, Encana Corporation and Suncor Energy Inc. saw respective declines of 3.18 percent, 1.68 percent and 1.27 percent.

Health Care group continued to slump, losing for the fifth time in six sessions. The sector lost 5.55 percent during the week and 42.31 percent over the past twelve months.

The Canadian dollar dropped 0.0019 to end the week at 0.7394 U.S. dollars. Endit