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Canadian market starts April higher

Xinhua, April 4, 2017 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market opened the month slightly higher, as gains in mining stocks outweighed losses from the health care sector.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite advanced 36.65 points, or 0.24 percent to start the week at 15,584.40 points. Half of the ten sub-groups ended the session ahead.

The TSX Materials group, which is made up of producers of gold, precious metals, and raw materials, saw the biggest gain on the day, leaping 1.69 percent. The spot price of gold jumped 3.80 U.S. dollars an ounce to 1,253.00 dollars, while the same weight of silver rose a cent to 18.23 dollars. Miners Silver Standard Resources, IAMGold Corp, and OceanaGold Corp led the charge with surges of 4.96 percent, 4.51 percent and 4.31 percent, each.

Meanwhile, Vancouver-based Teck Resources Ltd, which produces coal, copper, zinc, and lead, posted even stronger gains as coal price surged more than 15 percent after news that Australian coal exports were disrupted due to Cyclone Debbie. Teck Resources stocks closed at 30.68 Canadian dollars (22.92 U.S. dollars), a 5.50 percent spike.

The remaining groups that finished the session higher were: Telecommunications (0.50 percent), Financials (0.29 percent), Information Technology (0.23 percent), and Industrials (0.04 percent).

All three members of the telecommunications group finished higher on the day. Quebec-based BCE Inc. shares rose 0.54 percent, rival Rogers Communications Inc. saw a 0.51 percent uplift, and Vancouver-based TELUS Corporation boosted 0.44 percent.

Health Care led the losing groups on the day with a 2.12 percent dip after two of the largest companies in the group dropped. Smith Falls-based medical marijuana distributor Canopy Growth Corporation shares fell 4.41 percent to 10.18 Canadian dollars (7.60 U.S. dollars) after announcing the acquisition of a Western-Canada firm. Meanwhile, Quebec-based drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International saw shares slip 4.70 percent to 14.00 Canadian dollars (10.46 U.S. dollars).

The other groups to close Monday' s session in negative territory were: Consumer Discretionary (0.56 percent), Utilities (0.37 percent), Consumer Staples (0.25 percent), and Energy (0.13 percent).

The Consumer Discretionary group, which is made up of producers of non-essentials goods such as automobiles, apparel and entertainment was dragged down by department store retailer Hudson' s Bay Company. Shares of the oldest company in Canada plunged 8.05 percent to 9.94 Canadian dollars (7.43 U.S. dollars) on the eve of the company releasing their fourth quarter earnings.

Also hindering the group were auto parts makers Martinrea International Inc. and Magna International. Shares of the firms retreated 3.68 percent and 2.18 percent, respectively.

The Canadian dollar slipped 0.49 cents to begin the week at 0.7470 U.S. dollars. Endit