Canadian stocks rose Monday for the first time in nine sessions, on the way to snapping the worst stretch since before the financial crisis, as commodities rallied amid heightened tension after France bombed Syria in response to terrorist attacks in Paris.
The S&P/TSX composite index bolted higher 242.1 points, or 1.9%, to close Monday at 13,317.52
The Canadian dollar dwindled 0.01 cents at 75.04 cents U.S.
The S&P/TSX lost 4.6% in the previous eight trading sessions for the longest losing streak since June 2002.
Suncor Energy Inc. added 3.8% to $38.32 and TransCanada Corp. rose 3.1% to $42.56. Barrick Gold Corp. rose 1.2% to $10.17 and Yamana Gold Inc. climbed 4.5% to $2.55.
The most influential gainers on the index included Bank of Nova Scotia, which rose 1.9% to $60.11, and Bank of Montreal, which added 1.9% to $75.66.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. lost 2.7% to $97.79, trading near a two-year low. Valeant, briefly the largest stock in Canada by market capitalization this year, has lost more than 70% from an Aug. 5 high amid pressure over how it prices its drugs.
Among other influential weights was First Quantum Minerals Ltd, which declined 4.6% to $4.98.
DHX Media Ltd., a media entertainment producer, jumped 3.5% to $8.05. for the biggest increase in seven weeks after reporting first-quarter profit and revenue ahead of analysts’ estimates.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada reported that Canadian investors reduced their holdings of foreign securities by $6.2 billion in September, all non-U.S. foreign instruments. At the same time, foreign investors purchased $3.3 billion of Canadian securities, most of them equities.
What’s more, the agency reported that manufacturing sales declined 1.5% to $51.1 billion in September.
Lastly, the Canadian Real Estate Association said national home sales rose by 1.8% from September to October. Actual activity was little changed from October 2014. The number of newly listed homes was up 0.9% from September to October.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved up 2.18 points to 526.11
All but one of the 13 TSX subgroups were higher, with energy leaping 4.3%, consumer staples hiking 3.5%, and information technology better by 2.5%.
The lone negative stock was metals and mining, down 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded higher by 1% or more Monday, helped by gains in oil prices and defensive sectors, following terror attacks in Paris over the weekend.
The Dow Jones industrial average soared 237.77 points, or 1.4%, to finish at 17,483.01, with Chevron, Exxon Mobil and UnitedHealth contributing the most to gains.
The S&P 500 climbed 28.2 points, or 1.4%, to 2,051.24, helped by gains of more than 3% in the energy sector as oil prices recovered from an earlier dip.
The NASDAQ index moved solidly into positive territory, gaining 53.74 points, or 1.1%, to 4,981.62, recovering from an intraday dip, as
Apple gained about 1.5%, and Amazon briefly fell 2%.
Futures gave up earlier attempts at gains after the November Empire Manufacturing index came in at minus 10.7 for a fourth-straight month of contraction.
No other major economic data came out Monday. The key report for the week is the Federal Reserve meeting minutes due out Wednesday.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries were slightly higher, dropping yields to 2.27% from Friday’s 2.28%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained $1.35 a barrel to $42.09 U.S.
Gold prices faded 71 cents to $1,083.20 U.S. an ounce.
