Stocks in Toronto rose shortly after the open on Monday, reversing opening losses, bolstered by market optimism that a last minute deal could be reached between Greece and its creditors.
The S&P/TSX composite index hiked 78.13 points to kick off a new week at 14,731.24
The Canadian dollar fell 0.02 cents to 81.53 cents U.S.
Telus Corp and Rogers Communications Inc are looking to acquire wireless telecommunications provider Mobilicity, and the Canadian government is expected to approve a deal with one of the suitors, the Globe and Mail reported, citing copies of two opinion letters obtained from Industry Canada.
Telus shares dropped 14 cents to $42.04, while Rogers shares vaulted 41 cents, or nearly 1%, to $41.81.
U.S. hedge fund Livermore Partners is pushing for change at Canadian energy producer Zargon Oil and Gas Ltd, calling for cost reductions, a dividend cut and an improvement in production.
Zargon shares tumbled 24 cents, or 8.3%, to $2.66.
The head of Fairfax Financial Holdings, which bet on the success of a turnaround in Greece last year, urged the country to reach a deal with its counterparts in the euro zone on Friday and remain a part of the currency bloc.
Fairfax shares slipped $3.51 to $656.49
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange climbed 1.98 points to 685.87
All but two of the 14 TSX subgroups were to the good in Monday’s first hour, with telecom, information technology and financial stocks each better by 0.8%.
The two laggards were gold, off 1%, while utilities faded 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rallied on Monday as investors remained optimistic on a deal between Greece and its creditors.
The Dow Jones Industrials recovered 133.19 points from Friday’s sharp drop to 18,149.14, with Goldman Sachs leading advancers and Exxon Mobil the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 index pepped up 14.96 points to 2,124.95. Financials and health-care plays jumped about 1% to lead all sectors in the S&P 500 higher.
The NASDAQ rebounded 36.65 points to a new intraday high of 5,153.65.
In corporate news, Sequential Brands will buy Martha Stewart Living for $6.15 U.S. a share in cash and stock.
Health care insurers remain in focus.Over the weekend, Cigna rejected Anthem's $47-billion U.S. takeover proposal amid Cigna's and Aetna's attempts to buy Humana.
Energy Transfer Equity fell more than 2% following news the energy assets portfolio firm confirmed an unsolicited $48-billion U.S. bid for natural gas firm Williams Companies, according to Reuters.
In U.S. economic news, existing home sales jumped 5.1% in May to a five-and-a-half-year high.
The Eurogroup of euro-zone finance ministers concluded a meeting in Brussels on Monday and will meet again later in the week on the Greek debt crisis.
The cash-strapped country faces a 1.5-billion-euro ($1.7-billion U.S.) payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the end of the month.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries dropped sharply, raising yields to 2.35% from Friday’s 2.26%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 40 cents a barrel to $59.21 U.S.
Gold prices dipped $14.10 at $1,187.80 U.S. an ounce.
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