A major acquisition in the health-care sector helped the Toronto stock market to a modest advance Monday afternoon.
The S&P/TSX composite index up 29.15 points to end Monday at 12,696.37, as Valeant Pharmaceuticals confirmed that it plans to expand its eye-care business by buying Bausch and Lomb for $8.7 billion U.S. in cash.
The Montreal-area company will finance the deal by issuing up to $2 billion of new equity, with the remainder paid for with debt.
Valeant stock was up $8.74, or 10%, to $95.76 after earlier hitting an all-time high of $96.25. That after its shares rose 13% on Friday on speculation the deal was set to go through.
The Canadian dollar shed 0.28 cents to 96.43 cents U.S., amid mixed commodity prices and traders looked to the Bank of Canada's latest announcement on interest rates.
The Bank of Canada makes its next announcement Wednesday, the last such word on rates from outgoing central bank governor Mark Carney. Analysts expect the bank will leave its key rate unchanged.
Trading on the Toronto market was weaker than normal with U.S. markets closed for Memorial Day.
Elsewhere on the TSX, the information technology sector was ahead one per cent, largely due to an 8% gain in Wi-LAN stock. Its shares rose 37 cents, or 8.6%, to $4.63 after the technology innovation and licensing company said it has signed a licence agreement with U.S. computer company Dell Inc. to settle patent litigation.
The gold sector also helped lift the TSX, as Barrick Gold Corp. gained 34 cents, or 1.7%, to $20.03. The stock fell 2% Friday after Chile announced it was imposing a $16-million U.S. fine and requiring the company to meet certain conditions before it can resume construction of the Pascua-Lama project, citing "serious violations" of its environmental permit.
The base metals sector rose as July copper edged up a penny to $3.30 U.S. a pound. HudBay Minerals was up 19 cents to $8.32. Teck Resources tacked on 16 cents to $28.25.
The telecom sector was also ahead with shares in Manitoba Telecom Services, which announced last week plans to sell its Allstream business, ahead $2.07, or 6.1%, to $36.00. RBC Capital Markets has raised the stock to outperform from sector perform. It also increased its price target to $37 from $33.
The energy sector slipped as Imperial Oil lost a penny to $40.04
In other corporate news, engineering giant SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. is making a limited-time offer of "amnesty" to whistleblowers within its workforce.
The amnesty won’t cover executives in SNC’s office of the president, its management committee groups or anyone who directly profited from a violation. SNC is undergoing investigations for alleged fraud and corrupt practices by some former employees. Its stock was 47 cents higher at $41.26.
There was no economic news out today.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange edged higher 0.13 points to 948.45
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups gained strength on the day, led by health-care stocks, up 4%, information technology, up 1%, and telecoms, stronger by 0.7%.
The five laggards were weighed mostly by consumer staples and industrials, staggering 0.2% each, while consumer discretionaries fell 0.1%
Oil prices faded 57 cents to $93.65 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $6.70 at $1,393.30 U.S. an ounce
ON WALLSTREET
American markets were closed in honour of Memorial Day
Related Stories
