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Canadian stock market rallies over medical, resources shares rise

TORONTO
2015-12-01 07:50

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Canada's main stock market in Toronto Monday concluded Novembers' trade with a three-digit gain as medical and resources shares led the way. The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/ TSX Composite Index was higher 101.59 points, or 0.76 percent to close at 13,469.83 points.

All the major sectors were in the green except Utilities, down 0.3 percent, with the electricity distributor Emera Incorporated lower 0.28 percent to 42.61 Canadian dollars (about 31.91 U.S. dollars) per share. Health Care, jumping 2.02 percent, was the biggest gainer when its heavyweight Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. soared 4.45 percent to 120.35 Canadian dollars.

Meanwhile, gains were seen in most of the companies from resources shares, with Energy up 1.52 percent while Metals and mining higher 0.64 percent. Suncor Energy Inc. moved up 1.71 percent to 36.90 Canadian dollars and Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. spiked up 3.56 percent to 27.03 Canadian dollars.

And the gold group, a sub-sector of Metals and mining, gained momentum with S&P/TSX Global Gold Index shooting up 2.56 percent, when most of the gold miners rallied over the rising gold prices. Eldorado Gold Corporation rose 3.02 percent to 4.09 Canadian dollars while Barrick Gold Corporation strengthened 3.8 percent to 9.83 Canadian dollars.

On the domestic economic beat, the TSX index was also boosted when Statistics Canada reported on Monday that Canada's current account deficit (on a seasonally adjusted basis) narrowed 0.4 billion Canadian dollars in the third quarter to 16.2 billion Canadian dollars. The federal agency highlighted that a lower deficit on trade in goods was partially offset by a higher deficit on cross-border investment income flows.

"This improvement accounted for much of an expected 2.5 percent annualized GDP increase in the quarter that would mark a return to growth following the 0.5 percent and 0.8 percent declines in the second and first quarters, respectively", according to Nathan Janzen, a senior economist from Royal Bank of Canada on Monday.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar Monday was up to 0. 7489 U.S. dollar at 4 O'clock (the Canadian Eastern Daylight Time), when compared with 0.7478 U.S. dollar on last Friday, due to the lower deficit trade data.

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