Equities in Toronto rose late Monday morning, as gains in oil and precious metals prices drove energy and gold mining plays higher, while Valeant Pharmaceuticals International weighed heavily after delaying its earnings report.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 96.64 points to greet noon at 12,894.43
The Canadian dollar was lower by 0.05 cents to 73.95 cents U.S.
The price of oil was higher after strong gains last week on increasing hopes the market has bottomed out and as OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia said it would work with other producers to limit oil market volatility.
Suncor Energy advanced 66 cents, or 2%, to $33.35 and Canadian Natural Resources gained 76 cents, or 2.8%, to $28.15.
Gold was on track for its biggest monthly gain in four years, as Barrick Gold advanced 27 cents, or 1.5%, to $18.54, Goldcorp advanced 24 cents, or 1.3%, to $18.97.
Valeant fell $8.17, or 7.5%, to $101.64 after the drug company said its CEO would return from medical leave effective immediately, and it postponed the release of fourth-quarter results planned for Monday.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported Monday morning that its industrial product price index rose 0.5% in January, mainly as a result of higher prices for motorized and recreational vehicles. Lower prices for energy and petroleum products largely moderated the increase in the index.
The raw materials price index declined 0.4% during the same month, weighed by lower prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange remained positive 0.82 points to 538.88
All but one of the 13 TSX subgroups were higher, as energy and gold each climbed 2%, and the metals and mining group chugged ahead 1.5%.
Only health-care suffered, falling 1.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded mostly higher on the last trading day of February, amid higher oil prices and after some disappointing data.
The Dow Jones Industrial average moved higher 66.3 points to 16,706.47, with Caterpillar leading advancers and Pfizer the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 gained 7.38 points to 1,955.43, with utilities leading nine sectors higher and health-care the only decliner.
The NASDAQ index gained 25.89 points to 4,616.36
The People's Bank of China cut further the reserve requirement ratio, the amount of cash the country's banks have to hold, by 0.5 percentage points after China's markets closed Monday. The cut was the first since October and the fifth since last February.
The reserve requirement ratio comes into effect Tuesday and means most large Chinese banks will have a reserve ratio of 17%.
In economic news, Chicago PMI came in at 47.6 in February, missing expectations and dropping from 55.6 in January. Pending home sales fell 2.5% in January, versus expectations for a slight gain.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury inched up, lowering yields to 1.75% from Friday’s 1.76%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices acquired 83 cents a barrel to $33.48 U.S.
Gold prices stayed afloat $8.69 to $1,232.15 U.S. an ounce.
