Stocks north of the border extended their recent run to a more-than-nine-month high on Tuesday as oil and gas stocks jumped with buoyant crude prices and heavyweight financial stocks also rose.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index strengthened 61.43 points to greet noon at 14,337.59, maintaining the 20%-plus gain since its low point in January, thereby qualifying as a bull market.
The Canadian dollar took on 0.17 cents to 78.19 cents U.S.
The overall gains were capped by a sharp fall in shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.
Valeant's stock fell 19.6% to $29.76 after the embattled drug company missed quarterly profit estimates on weakness in its dermatology business and cut its full-year earnings and revenue forecast.
The most influential gainers included Royal Bank of Canada, which rose 0.6% to $79.82, and Toronto-Dominion Bank, which also added 0.6%, to $57.69.
Enbridge Inc advanced 1.6% to $54.64 and Suncor Energy Inc added 1.6% to $36.40.
Canadian National Railway was up 0.2% at $77.20 after announcing its CEO would step down for medical reasons.
On the economic beat, Western University’s IVEY Purchasing Managers Index for May came in at 49.4, compared to 53.1 for April. The survey of purchasing managers asks whether their purchases increased during the month or went down. Any reading below 50 indicates a contraction.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 0.96 points to 701.63
Seven of the 13 TSX subgroups were positive, as energy gushed 2.5%, industrials gathered 0.8%, and financials picked up 0.5%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by metals and mining, down 2.7%, while health-care and gold were each off 1.8%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded higher Tuesday, following a rise in global equities, as gains in energy stocks offset declines in health-care issues.
The Dow Jones Industrials moved up 73.93 points to 17,994.26, with Chevron contributing the most to gains. Nike proved the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 gained 8.11 points at 2,117.52, with energy leading nine sectors higher and health-care the only decliner.
The NASDAQ stayed buoyant 4.64 points to 4,973.36.
Shares of Biogen traded more than 12% lower after reporting disappointing results in a mid-stage review for its experimental multiple sclerosis drug treatment.
In economic news, first-quarter U.S. productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, contracted at an annualized rate of 0.6%, instead of the 1% pace reported last month. Unit labour costs, the price of labor per single unit of output, increased at an upwardly revised 4.5% pace.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury moved higher, lowering yields to 1.71% from Monday’s 1.73%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices tacked on 33 cents a barrel to $50.02 U.S.
Gold prices sank $2.80 to $1,244.60 U.S. an ounce.
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