Energy helps Canadian market open week ahead

Canada's main market started the week on a high, as gains from energy sector dwarfed losses from health care and consumer staples groups.

Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite rose 70.04 points, or 0.45 percent to begin the week at 15,652.08 points. Eighth of the ten sub-groups closed the day higher.

Energy was by far and away the top gainer during the session, advancing 1.62 percent after the oil minister of Saudi Arabia said they would do "do whatever it takes" to rebalance the crude oil market. Shares of Brent crude for July delivery in London moved up 0.22 percent to 49.37 U.S. dollars a barrel.

Subsequently, a trio of Calgary-based energy firms benefited. Shares of Baytex Energy Corp surged 5.66 percent, MEG Energy Corp soared 5.25 percent, and Spartan Energy Corp shot up 4.55 percent. Meanwhile, Suncor Energy Inc, the largest producer of crude oil in Canada, saw shares rise 1.48 percent to 43.24 Canadian dollars (31.55 U.S. dollars).

Materials and Financial groups also had an impact, growing 0.34 percent and 0.24 percent, apiece.

The TSX Material group, which is made up of producers of gold, precious metals, and raw materials, finished ahead despite the prices of gold, silver and copper all losing ground. The spot price of an ounce of gold retreated 0.15 percent to 1,226.00 U.S. dollars while the same weight of silver fell 0.67 percent to 16.20 dollars. Copper prices plummeted 1.71 percent to 2.4782 U.S. dollars a pound after Chinese imports fell by 30 percent.

Vancouver-based gold miner Eldorado Gold Corporation had a strong day, surging 4.51 percent to close at 4.87 Canadian dollars (3.55 U.S. dollars). Meanwhile, Toronto-based Yamana Gold and Kinross Gold finished with gains of 1.18 percent and 0.97 percent, respectively.

Dragging the group down were three copper miners. Ivanhoe Mines slid 1.87 percent, First Quantum Minerals slipped 1.78 percent, and Lundin Mining Corporation fell 1.17 percent.

The Financial group finished slightly higher as alternative mortgage lending firm Home Capital Group Inc continued to see volatile results. Shares of the Toronto-based firm jumped 16.75 percent to 6.83 Canadian dollars (4.98 U.S. dollars) after the stock lost nearly 70 percent over the past two weeks. The stock was also the most actively exchanged during the day with volume exceeding 7.3 million shares.

The group was also aided the country's top bank and insurance firms. Royal Bank of Canada shares rose 0.47 percent, while shares of Bank of Montreal advanced 0.26 percent. Meanwhile, insurance firms Manulife Financial and Sun Life Financial closed 0.45 percent and 0.27 percent higher.

The remaining groups to move up during the session were: Utilities (0.40 percent), Telecommunications (0.40 percent), Consumer Discretionary (0.27 percent), Industrials (0.16 percent), and Information Technology (0.11 percent).

The lone groups to finish Monday's session behind were Health Care and Consumer Staples, falling 1.03 percent and 0.31 percent, respectively.

The TSX Health Care group was dragged down by a pair of firms. Quebec-based drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International slipped 2.77 percent to close at 13.36 Canadian dollars (9.75 U.S. dollars), while Ontario-based medical marijuana distributor Canopy Growth Corporation closed at 8.69 Canadian dollars (6.34 U.S. dollars), a 2.91 percent decline.

The Canadian dollar ticked up 0.04 cents to begin at the week at 0.7297 U.S. dollars. Endite