Stocks in Canada’s biggest centre rallied broadly on Monday, bolstered by market optimism that an 11th-hour deal could be reached between debt-laden Greece and its creditors.
The S&P/TSX composite index hiked 134.91 points to greet noon at 14,788.03
The Canadian dollar fell 0.15 cents to 81.40 cents U.S.
Information technology stocks led the parade of winners, with CGI Group picking up $1.55, or 3.1%, to $51.22, and Wi-Lan gaining nine cents, or 3.1%, to $3.02.
The most influential movers on the index were Royal Bank of Canada, which rose 1.3% to $77.82, and Bank of Nova Scotia, which advanced 1.6% to $65.37.
Three of the five most influential decliners were gold mining firms. Barrick Gold Corp's shares fell 2.3% to $13.76.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange climbed 1.07 points to 684.96
All but three of the 14 TSX subgroups were up by midday Monday, led by information technology issues, up 1.5%, while telecoms and financials each up 1.1%.
The three laggards were weighed mostly by gold, down 1%, metals and mining, off 0.03%, and materials, down 0.02%.
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 128.53 points from Friday’s sharp drop to 18,144.40. Merck led blue-chip advancers, while Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and American Express rose about 1.5% or more to be among index leaders.
The S&P 500 index improved 17.73 points to 2,127.72.
The NASDAQ rebounded 41.53 points to a new intraday high of 5,158.53, topping the 5,143.32 high set on Thursday
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 $16.30 at $1,185.60 U.S. an ounce.
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