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Canadian market finish higher as Materials rebound

Xinhua, March 4, 2017 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market in Toronto ended the week higher, as gains in Materials and Energy stocks contributed to the winning day.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite gained 71.85 points, or 0.46 percent, to close the session at 15,608.50 points. Nine of the ten sub-groups finished the day ahead.

The Materials group, which consists of producers of gold, precious metals, and raw materials, was the biggest winner on the day, rising 1.34 percent. This comes one day after the group dipped 3.71 percent overall and the spot price of gold suffered its worst single-day decline in three months. Gold prices inched up 0.02 percent to 1,234.30 U.S. dollars an ounce, while the same weight of silver climbed 1.30 percent to 17.95 dollars.

Gold miners B2Gold Corp. and Yamana Gold Inc. were the top two traded stocks by volume and ended the day with respective gains of 2.55 percent and 1.16 percent. Shares of Barrick Gold, the world's largest producer of bullion, closed the day at 24.43 Canadian dollars (18.26 U.S. dollars), a 1.33 percent increase.

Also finishing ahead was the TSX Energy group with a 0.84 percent jump to coincide with an increase in crude oil price. A barrel of Brent for May delivery gained 1.23 percent to close at 55.81 U.S. dollars. Calgary-based Canadian Natural Resources Limited shares jumped 3.23 percent to 41.81 Canadian dollars (31.25 U.S. dollars) one day after posting better-than-expected fourth quarter financials. Cenovus Energy and Suncor Energy also contributed with gains of 1.67 percent and 0.80 percent, respectively.

The remaining groups to come out ahead were: Financials (0.54 percent), Industrials (0.57 percent), Consumer Staples (0.26 percent), Information Technology (0.15 percent), Consumer Discretionary (0.11 percent), Utilities (0.05 percent), and Telecommunications (0.03 percent).

The Financial Group finished ahead U.S. Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen signalled an interest rate hike would occur in their upcoming meeting. Bank of Nova Scotia and Toronto-Dominion Bank shares advanced 1.63 percent and 0.93 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, insurance firms Manulife Financial Corporation and Sun Life Financial Inc. gained 0.91 percent and 0.60 percent, respectively.

Industrials was fuelled by the nearly 6.6 million shares of Bombardier Inc. shares exchanged. The plane and train maker stock closed at 2.42 Canadian dollars (1.81 U.S. dollars), a 0.41 percent uptick.

The lone group that failed to gain ground on the day was Health Care, falling 0.55 percent after Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. shares dipped after completing the sale of skincare assets to cosmetic giant L'Oréal to repay debt. Shares of the Laval-based firm fell 5.05 percent to 17.48 Canadian dollars (13.06 U.S. dollars).

The Canadian dollar snapped four consecutive days of decreases, gaining 0.11 cents to close the week at 0.7474 U.S. dollars. Endite