Equities in Canada’s biggest market jumped more than 1% to a fresh two-week high on Monday, led by major oil and gas and mining stocks as commodity prices rallied.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index leaped 160.83 points, or 1.2%, to greet noon at 13,909.41
The Canadian dollar stayed positive 0.32 cents to 77.6 cents U.S.
The most influential movers on the index included Suncor Energy, up 2% to $34.76, and Canadian Natural Resources, which added 1.8% to $37.61.
Barrick Gold advanced 2.5% to $24.45, and Goldcorp rose 3.7% to $24.12.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International fell 3.3% to $32.47 after it said would cut prices for hospitals on two heart drugs after shareholder William Ackman pledged to revisit controversial price hikes on the treatments.
Oil prices jumped more than 2% to their highest since November 2015 on the back of more disruption to supplies from Nigeria and after long-time bear Goldman Sachs said it was more positive about the market.
Supply disruptions have most likely pushed oil production below consumption levels in May for the first time in at least two years, meaning the world has started eating into the huge stockpiles of oil which knocked as much as 70% off crude prices between 2014 and early 2016.
Shares in Penn West Petroleum Ltd sank 8.6 percent to 96 Canadian cents a share after it said it may default on its financial covenants at the end of the second quarter and raised doubts about its ability to continue as a going concern.
On the economic beat, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported national home sales in April 2016 rose to their highest level ever, with sales hiking by 3.1% from March to April. Actual (not seasonally-adjusted) activity was up 10.3% compared to April 2015.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange grew 8.34 points to 688.02
All but one of the 13 TSX subgroups were higher, with metals and mining popping 5.1%, energy better by 3.1%, and materials up 2.2%.
Only utilities missed the party, slipping 0.04%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose in choppy trade Monday, led by energy stocks as oil prices hit fresh highs for the year so far.
The Dow skyrocketed 152.44 points to 17,687.76, with Apple rising 3.5% to contribute the most to gains. Home Depot, Boeing and IBM were also among the top contributors to gains.
The S&P 500 moved up 17.33 points to 2,063.94. Energy rose more than 1.5 percent to lead most S&P 500 sectors higher.
The NASDAQ Composite rose 50.45 points to 4,767.35
In U.S. economic news, the Empire State Manufacturing report was minus 9.02 in May versus positive 9.56 in April.
Home builder confidence was unchanged for a fourth-straight month, at 58 in May according to the National Association of Home Builders
Prices for the 10-year Treasury dropped, raising yields to 1.74% from Friday’s 1.7%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices hiked $1.49 a barrel to $47.70 U.S.
Gold prices jumped $2.67 to $1,276.12 U.S. an ounce.
