Off the wire
• Starfish larvae found eating, running by creating water whorls  • Aussies abroad should form terror "exit plans" while overseas: Aust'n FM  • Human kindness not handed down from chimps, research shows  • Denmark registers record low single-month refugee number since 2011  • London appoints first ever full-time cycling commissioner  • Urgent: At least 60 injured in fireworks-market blast near Mexico City  • Italian coastguard praised by UNICEF for rescuing migrants, refugees  • Turkey says Gulenist behind Russian envoy's murder  • China, UK vow pragmatic cooperation, joint efforts in climate battle  • Chinese envoy calls for joint efforts to combat trafficking in persons  
You are here: 　 Home

Materials and financials push Canadian market ahead

Xinhua, December 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market in Toronto advanced for a fourth consecutive session on Tuesday as gains in materials and financial stocks contributed.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite rose 23.11 points, or 0.15 percent, to finish the session at 15,292.96 points. Three of the ten sub-sectors ended the day higher.

The TSX Materials Group, which feature producers of gold, precious metals and raw materials, saw the biggest gains on the day, rising 1.29 percent.

Packaging firm CCL Industries Inc. shares surged 19.56 percent to 271.19 Canadian dollars (202.88 U.S. dollars) after announcing the acquisition of United Kingdom-based Innovia for 1.13 billion Canadian dollars (about 845 million U.S. dollars). The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, will allow CCL to become a market leader in providing polymer banknotes, which has been in circulation by the Bank of Canada since 2011.

Price of gold continued to stumble, dipping 8.70 dollars to 1132.70 U.S. dollars an ounce. Since Nov. 2, the price of bullion has fallen 13.42 percent.

Other groups to come out ahead on Tuesday were Financials and Health Care, gaining 0.44 percent and 0.34 percent respectively.

The Financials group, which accounts for the largest weight in the TSX, was influenced by movement from a trio of Toronto-based insurance firms. Sun Life Financial Inc. and Manulife Financial Corporation shares rose 2.06 percent and 0.94 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, stock price of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited climbed 4.96 percent to 635.00 Canadian dollars (475.04 U.S. dollars) a day after announcing the acquisition of a Swiss insurance firm for 4.9 billion U.S. dollars.

Despite finishing the session ahead, seven groups finished the day in the red. Utilities (0.64 percent), Consumer Discretionary (0.38 percent), Consumer Staples (0.38 percent), and Telecommunications (0.34 percent) saw the biggest losses on the day.

Consumer Discretionary, which consists of producers of non-essentials products such as automobiles, apparel and entertainment, retreated as shares of online gambling firm Amaya Inc. slipped 1.96 percent to 19.00 Canadian dollars (14.21 U.S. dollars) after the Quebec-based firm's former CEO ended his pursuit to purchase the company for privatization.

Energy (0.26 percent), Information Technology (0.19 percent), and Industrials (0.05 percent) round out the remaining groups to finish Tuesday behind.

Information Technology fell as Waterloo-based Blackberry Limited shares opened ahead after reporting better than expected third quarter loss of 117 million U.S dollars. Despite the favourable news, the CEO subsequently told reporters that it would take four or five periods to end the losses. This prompted the stock to finish at 10.02 Canadian dollars (7.50 U.S. dollars), a 3.09 percent decrease.

On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that wholesale trade in October advanced 1.1 percent to 56.6 billion Canadian dollars (about 42.3 billion U.S. dollars), compared to September. Five of the seven industries moved up, led by building materials (2.8 percent), motor vehicle (1.8 percent), and food, beverage and tobacco (1.7 percent).

By region, eight of the thirteen provinces and territories saw increases, with Quebec (3.4 percent), British Columbia (3.4 percent), and Ontario (0.9 percent) accounting for the majority of the gains.

The Canadian dollar moved up 0.0029 to 0.7481 U.S. dollars. Endite