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Financial stocks lift Canadian market higher

Xinhua, April 25, 2017 Adjust font size:

Canada's main stock market opened the week higher, as a favourable outcome in the first round of the French election combined with better-than-expected wholesale trade data in Canada helped financial sector come out on top on Monday.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite jumped 97.98 points, or 0.63 percent to begin the week at 15,712.46 points. Seven of the 10 sub-groups ended the session ahead.

Prior to markets opening on Monday, the results of the French presidential election saw favoured centralist candidate Emmanuel Macron win the first round.

Macron is known to have an anti-Brexit philosophy and is again the favourite going into the final election round on May 7.

Domestically, Statistics Canada reported that wholesale trade in February ticked down 0.2 percent to 58.9 billion Canadian dollars (about 43.6 billion U.S. dollars). This surprised the market, which had predicted a 1.0 percent dip.

During the trading day, Financial stocks jumped 1.52 percent, as the country's top financial institutions posted healthy gains.

Toronto-based Manulife Financial Corporation, the largest insurance firm in the country saw shares surge 3.03 percent to close at 23.84 Canadian dollars (17.64 U.S. dollars).

Meanwhile, Toronto-Dominion Bank, the second largest bank in the country was the top traded stock during the session with a volume of more than 9.6 million. The stock closed at 66.68 Canadian dollars (49.35 U.S. dollars), a 1.60 percent uplift.

Meanwhile, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia, and Bank of Montreal rounded out the top-four banks with gains of 1.61 percent, 1.48 percent and 1.33 percent, apiece.

Holding the group back was Home Capital Group Inc, the country's largest non-bank lender plunging 9.09 percent to 17.50 Canadian dollars (12.95 U.S. dollars) after announcing several management changes on the day. The biggest was the company's founder and former CEO giving up his board seat due to a pending case with the Ontario Securities Commission.

The TSX Industrials group also had a strong day, rising 0.88 percent after a pair of the country' s largest transportation firms moved up. Air Canada advanced 1.92 percent, while Canadian National Railway Company rose 1.25 percent.

Montreal-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin Group Inc shares faded 0.18 percent to 54.17 Canadian dollars (40.08 U.S. dollars) despite a report claiming that the company had won a contract with a Saudi Arabian gas company.

The remaining groups to finish in the green were: Information Technology (0.87 percent), Consumer Discretionary (0.72 percent), Health Care (0.56 percent), Telecommunications (0.42 percent) and Utilities (0.14 percent).

The IT group was led by a pair of Waterloo-based tech firms. Blackberry Limited shares climbed 2.28 percent, while software firm Open Text Corporation closed 1.22 percent higher.

Not all groups came out ahead on Monday, as Materials dipped 0.84 percent to lead the laggard groups. Meanwhile, energy and utilities edged down 0.03 percent and 0.02 percent, respectively to round out the list.

The Materials group, which is made up of producers of gold, precious metals, and raw materials, closed lower as the spot price of gold fell 0.62 percent to 1,276 U.S. dollars an ounce. As a result, shares of B2Gold Corp and Kinross Gold Corporation slipped 3.26 percent and 2.87 percent, each.

Barrick Gold Corporation, the largest gold miner in the world, ended the session at 25.71 Canadian dollars (19.03 U.S. dollars), a 1.04 percent lower. The Toronto-based firm is due to release their first quarter financials after the market closes.

The Canadian dollar inched down 0.04 cents to start the week at 0.7401 U.S. dollar. Endit