Canadian stocks rose, extending a sixth straight monthly gain, as commodity and materials producers gained on speculation global economic growth will accelerate next year.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 66.01 points to 13,449.17
Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest producer, gained 2% to $53.13 and Silver Wheaton Corp. advanced 3.8% to $38.63. Potash Corp., the biggest fertilizer producer by market value, climbed 4.5 to $152.56.
Research In Motion Ltd. fell 1.2% to $58.15 after an analyst said it may have to re-engineer its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet computer to improve battery life.
Agrium Inc., the fertilizer maker based in Calgary, surged 4.3 to $90.22.
The stock index has rallied 14% in 2010, outgaining the S&P 500, which is up 13%, for a seventh straight year. The S&P/TSX is posting its biggest December advance since 2005.
The Canadian dollar ventured close to parity with its American counterpart, up 0.07 cents to 99.96 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange muscled up 56.17 points to 2,243.57, while the Nasdaq Canada index picked up 3.90 points to 750.96.
In Toronto, all but four of the 14 subgroups ended the day positive. Materials flourished 2.2%, metals and mining improved 2%, while gold was 1.5% better.
The four laggards were weighed by information technology and health-care stocks, off 0.5% each, while consumer discretionaries were down 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, equities crept higher in quiet trading Wednesday, as traders look to finish the year with a happy ending.
The Dow Jones Industrials remained higher by 9.84 points to end the day at 11,585.40
The S&P 500 eked ahead 1.27 points to 1,259.78. The Nasdaq Composite Index moved up 4.05 points to 2,666.93
With no economic reports on the agenda and many traders off for the holiday week, markets seem to be trading upward on an optimistic undertone about the economy, according to some experts.
Trading volume has been light and markets have barely moved during the final week of the year.
The Northeast continues to recover from a severe snowstorm and investors are holding off on any big bets until the New Year.
Overall, stocks have climbed 6% in December, and are on track to post double-digit percentage gains for the year. For 2010 overall, the Dow is up about 11%, the S&P 500 is up nearly 13% and the Nasdaq is up nearly 18%.
Energy giants including Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil all posted fresh 52-week highs in mid-session trading Wednesday, but pared back those gains in late afternoon trading.
Shares of Sears Holdings rose 6.3% Wednesday -- a day after the company announced it has launched its own online movie download service, Alphaline Entertainment. Sears plans to sell the service embedded in portable media players, Blu-ray DVD players, mobile phones and high-definition televisions.
BJ's Wholesale Club stock rose 7.1%, after the New York Post reported that Los Angeles-based firm Leonard Green & Partners LP may make a hostile bid for the company.
A district judge ruled that the German-based business software maker SAP will have to pay rival Oracle millions of dollars in interest on the $1.3-billion U.S. copyright infringement verdict. SAP shares rose 0.5% and Oracle shares fell 0.2%.
Bank of America's stock fell 0.1% in afternoon trading, paring back losses from earlier in the morning. Allstate filed a lawsuit against the bank and its Countrywide Financial unit for more than $700 million U.S. in mortgage-backed securities that the insurance giant had purchased. The suit also named former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo, who agreed to pay $67.5 million U.S. to settle fraud charges in October.
There are no major economic reports on Wednesday's agenda.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury moved sharply upward, pushing the yield down to 3.34% from Tuesday’s 3.48%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for February delivery slid 46 cents to $91.03 U.S. a barrel
Gold futures for February delivery rose $7.90 to settle at $1,413.50 U.S. an ounce.
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