Stocks in Canada’s largest centre advanced on Monday as concerns about instability in Ukraine lifted oil and bullion prices, pushing up the shares of producers of the safe-haven resources.
The S&P/TSX composite index greeted noon ahead 88.92 points to 14,346.61
The Canadian dollar gained back 0.06 cents at 91.15 cents U.S.
The Toronto stock market's benchmark index, which lost about 1% last week, is up about 5% this year, and has outperformed the S&P 500 index so far this year.
In the gold sector, Goldcorp added 1.6% to $26.87, and Barrick Gold advanced 1.5% to $20.75.
Energy shares rose, with higher oil prices driving the gains. Suncor Energy climbed 0.5% to $39.66, and Canadian Natural Resources was up 0.3% at $43.43.
In corporate news, residents of the British Columbia town of Kitimat voted this weekend against the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline project in a blow to Enbridge's efforts to expedite the flow of crude from Canada's oil sands to markets in Asia. Enbridge shares gave back 0.9% to $50.70.
Internationally, Russian stocks and the ruble dropped as the continuing strife between Russia and Ukraine ramped up to a fever pitch. Pro-Russian protesters seized a police station in Ukraine and the government threatened to oust them with a "full-scale anti-terrorist operation."
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 3.78 points to 1,001.55
All but two of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher midday, led by metals and mining, up 3%, gold, ahead 2.2%, and global base metals, better by 2.1%.
The two laggards were telecoms and utilities, each down 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Investors came back from the weekend with a more upbeat attitude after last week's huge selloff.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average bolted higher 114.09 points to 16,140.84. The S&P 500 gained 14.57 points to 1,830.26, and the NASDAQ composite index jumped 35.57 to 4,035.50
Citigroup, the third largest U.S. bank's stock, is climbing after the company released first quarter earnings that beat analysts' forecasts. Profits rose 4% from the same period last year.
Earnings from Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley will come later in the week.
On Monday, tech stocks were on the rebound. Facebook, Twitter, Amazon.com, Netflix, Google and Yahoo gaining ground. Google and Yahoo will also report earnings this week.
on Friday, but is bouncing back today is Herbalife. Shares of the multi-level marketer plunged after reports of an FBI probe. The company said it had "no knowledge of any ongoing investigation by the DOJ or the FBI."
In other news, the financial services company TIAA-CREF is buying Nuveen Investments for $6.25 billion U.S. including debt. Nuveen has $221 billion U.S. in assets under management and brings TIAA-CREF's total assets under management to $800 billion U.S.
On the economic front, March retail sales posted their biggest gain since September 2012, up 1.1% as shoppers started returning to stores after the winter. Sales were exceptionally strong at auto dealers.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries fell back, raising yields to 2.64% from Friday’s 2.62%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained 15 cents to $103.89 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $8.80 to $1,327.80 U.S. an ounce.
