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Gold lifts Canadian market to 19-month high

Xinhua, December 30, 2016 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market in Toronto reached its highest point since April 2015 on Thursday, as gold prices rallying for a second straight day contributed.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite climbed 61.02 points, or 0.40 percent, to end the day at 15,422.12 points. Eight of the ten sub-sectors finished the session ahead.

The TSX Materials group surged for a second straight day, gaining 3.62 percent. Over the last two days, the group which consists of producers of gold, precious metals and raw materials has ascended 7.00 percent. On Thursday, the spot price of gold moved up 1.40 percent to 1157.70 U.S. dollars an ounce, while the same weight of silver saw a 0.91 percent increase to 16.12 U.S. dollars.

As a result of the rising prices, eight of the top ten most actively traded stocks during the session were Materials group members. Topping the list was Vancouver-based B2Gold Corp., which led the way with more than 7.7 million shares exchanged, with the stock soaring 11.44 percent to 3.41 Canadian dollars (2.52 U.S. dollars). Toronto-based Yamana Gold Inc. had the second highest volume of nearly 5.8 million and closed the day at 4.01 Canadian dollars (2.97 U.S. dollars) a share, a 7.80 percent surge.

Group members that also saw sizable growth on the day included: OceanaGold Corporation (9.14 percent), Silver Wheaton Corp. (9.02 percent), IAMGOLD Corporation (8.87 percent), and Semafo Inc. (8.53 percent).

Health Care rose 1.79 percent, as shares of Laval-based drugmaker ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. shot up 7.91 percent to 1.91 Canadian dollars (1.41 U.S. dollars).

Other groups to finish the day higher were: Utilities (0.75 percent), Consumer Staples (0.68 percent), Telecommunications (0.52 percent), Information Technology (0.28 percent), Consumer Discretionary (0.16 percent), Industrials (0.08 percent).

Industrials group's growth on the day was stunted by Air Canada shares falling 1.79 percent to 13.74 Canadian dollars (10.17 U.S. dollars). Positive news from the group was shares of Montreal-based Bombardier rising 1.40 percent to 2.17 Canadian dollars (1.61 U.S. dollars) after announcing a 1.8 billion Euro (about 1.9 billion U.S. dollars) deal with Austrian Federal Railways for delivery of up to 300 of the company's 'TALENT 3' trains.

The laggard groups on the day were Financials and Energy groups, fading 0.40 percent and 0.26 percent, respectively.

Financials group declined as Canada's three largest banks all saw stock prices drop. No. 1 ranked Royal Bank of Canada shares retreated 0.42 percent, while No. 2 Toronto-Dominion Bank slipped 0.52 percent. Lastly, No. 3 ranked Bank of Nova Scotia retreated 1.09 percent.

The TSX Energy group fell despite crude oil prices finishing ahead. Brent delivered in March rose 1.09 percent to 56.81 U.S. dollars a barrel. Meanwhile, January natural gas on New York Mercantile Exchange slipped 4.21 percent to 3.798 U.S. dollars per million British thermal units.

Shares of Calgary-based energy firms Baytex Energy Corp. and Pengrowth Energy Corporation moved up 3.68 percent and 3.13 percent, respectively.

The Canadian dollar rose for the first time in five sessions, gaining 0.0025 to end the day at 0.7404 U.S. dollars. Endite