Equities rose on Monday in Toronto as Valeant Pharmaceuticals International's shares surged after the drug maker added an activist investor to its board.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index remained 36.85 points to greet noon at 13,533.92.
The Canadian dollar settled 0.38 cents to 76.51 cents U.S.
Valeant shares were up 12.3% at $39.22 after Chief Executive Officer Michael Pearson stepped down and the company appointed William Ackman to its board.
It had traded at a peak nearing $350.00 last August.
Other influential movers on the index included Bombardier, which rose 3.9% to $1.34 while awaiting a federal government decision on whether to invest in the struggling plane maker.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added strength, as Barrick Gold Corp advanced 1.7% to $19.44.
The energy group barely rose, with oil prices stable after touching a 2016 high above $40.00 U.S. a barrel last week.
Enbridge declined 1.5% to $48.95.
The Trudeau Liberals on Tuesday will unveil their first budget since coming to power in October, having promised stimulus spending to boost economic growth.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 0.05 points to 580.87
All but one of the 13 TSX subgroups were positive, with health-care surging 3.1%, utilities up 1%, and telecoms better by 0.8%.
The lone laggard was metals and mining, sliding 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
Equities in America’s biggest centre were decidedly mixed by noon Monday, after five straight weeks of gains, as investors eyed oil and housing data in the holiday-shortened week.
The Dow Jones Industrials moved higher 15.78 points to 17,618.08. Chevron was the greatest contributor to declines in the Dow while Boeing and Nike were the top contributors to gains.
The S&P 500 moved backward 0.28 points to 2,049.3. Materials proved the greatest decliners in the S&P 500, while telecommunications led gainers.
The NASDAQ index pointed upward 3.25 points to 4,798.90, as Apple gained more than 0.5% ahead of its scheduled afternoon product event.
Markets will be shuttered for Good Friday.
Citigroup briefly traded more than 1% higher. KBW said in a Sunday note the firm "could be one of the only U.S. (global systematically important banks) that could successfully split up," a move that "should unlock meaningful shareholder value—50+% returns versus the current market capitalization."
Economically speaking, existing home sales south of the border declined 7.1% in February to an annual rate of 5.08 million units, the lowest level since November
Following the worse-than-expected home sales data, Goldman Sachs lowered its first quarter GDP tracking estimate by one 10th to 2.3%
Prices for the 10-year Treasury faded, raising yields to 1.9% from Friday’s 1.88%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices moved ahead 84 cents a barrel to $40.28 U.S.
Gold prices shed $9.84 to $1,245.56 U.S. an ounce.
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