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Health Care and Gold lifts Canadian market up

Xinhua, March 28, 2017 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market came out on top for a fourth straight session on Monday, as gains in Health Care stocks and gold reaching a one-month high contributed in a day which saw few laggards.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite rose 63.55 points, or 0.41 percent to begin the week at 15,506.22 points. Eight of the ten sub-groups ended the session higher.

The Health Care and Materials sectors saw the largest gains on the day, advancing 1.75 percent and 1.40 percent, apiece.

Health Care jumped after the Federal government announced plans to introduce a bill next month that will legalize marijuana by July 2018. As a result of the news, shares of Canopy Growth Corporation, the largest medical marijuana distributor in the country were the fifth most traded stock during the day and soared 11.13 percent to 10.98 Canadian dollars (8.21 U.S. dollars). Also surging 8.39 percent to 6.72 Canadian dollars (5.2 U.S. dollars) was Ontario-based Aphria Inc.

The TSX Materials group, which consists of producers of gold, precious metals, and raw materials, climbed after the spot price of gold reached a four-week high. The price of bullion advanced 0.88 percent to 1,253.80 U.S. dollars an ounce. Meanwhile, the same weight of silver performed even better, rising 2.03 percent to 18.09 U.S. dollars.

Notable gainers within the group were Toronto-based Yamana Gold (4.04 percent) and Vancouver-based Eldorado Gold Corporation (3.55 percent). Meanwhile, Barrick Gold Corporation, teh world's largest producer of gold saw shares close at 26.20 Canadian dollars (19.59 U.S. dollars), a 1.87 percent uplift.

The remaining sectors to finish the day in positive territory were: Consumer Discretionary (0.70 percent), Utilities (0.59 percent), Industrials (0.53 percent), Telecommunications (0.52 percent), Consumer Staples (0.47 percent), and Financial (0.13 percent).

The Consumer Discretionary group, which is comprised of of producers of non-essentials goods such as automobiles, apparel and entertainment was led by led by a pair of Ontario-based automobile manufacturers. Magna International shares advanced 1.30 percent, while Linamar Corporation shares rose 1.31 percent.

Also gaining within the group was Restaurant Brands International Inc., the parent company of fast food chains Tim Hortons and Burger King, after successfully tendering about 83 percent of United States chicken fast food franchise Popeyes Louisana Kitchen. Shares advanced 0.68 percent to 73.56 Canadian dollars (54.99 U.S. dollars).

The Industrials group was led by a 3.47 percent increase in Bombardier Inc. stocks after the company announced the expected delivery of an additional 27 trains for a Malaysian light rail transit line. The joint deal with a local partner is valued at 388 million U.S. dollars, of which Bombardier owns 69 percent (about 266 million U.S. dollars).

On the losing side were two groups that saw slight decreases during the trading session. The TSX Information Technology sector ticked down 0.10 percent, while the Energy group fell 0.05 percent.

The Canadian dollar inched up 0.02 cents to start the week at 0.7476 U.S. dollars. Endite