Canadian market closes at 28-month high

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TORONTO—Canada’s main stock market in Toronto reached its highest point since September 2014 on Wednesday, as Industrials and Materials groups helped it post a second straight day of triple-digit gains.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s benchmark Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite rose 113.72 points, or 0.74 percent, to close the session at 15,516.75 points. Eight of the ten sub-sectors moved up on the day.

Industrials and Materials group were the biggest movers, rising 1.41 percent and 0.98 percent, respectively.

The TSX Industrials Group was boosted by Montreal-based Bombardier Inc. being the most actively traded stock for a second straight day. With nearly 13 million shares exchanged, shares of the plane and train maker rose 5.70 percent to 2.41 Canadian dollars (1.81 U.S. dollars). Since the beginning of December, the stock has climbed 31.69 percent.

The Materials group, which consists of producers of gold, precious metals, and raw materials saw gains for a fourth session in the last five, as metal to rally. The spot price of an ounce of gold moved up 4.80 dollars to 1,163.10 U.S. dollars, while the same weight of silver climbed 0.80 percent to 16.40 U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, the spot price of copper prospered 1.99 percent to close at 2.55 U.S. dollars a pound.

As a result, miners First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. posted strong gains of 8.08 percent and 5.88 percent, respectively.

Other groups to post gains on the day were: Consumer Discretionary (1.05 percent), Information Technology (0.89 percent), Financials (0.88 percent), Utilities (0.51 percent), Telecommunications (0.50 percent), and Energy (0.33 percent).

Energy group was boosted by Calgary-based energy producer Encana Corporation announcing that their 2017 plans will exceed their preliminary forecast from October 2016. Shares of the firm were the most second most traded on the day and soared 7.22 percent to close at 17.22 Canadian dollars (12.94 U.S. dollars).

Additional energy-related news came out of American Petroleum Institute, who reported a decrease of 7.4 million barrels in U.S. crude oil inventory for the week ending Dec. 30, the largest drop in four months. As a result, the price of Brent in London for March delivery gained 1.06 percent to 56.27 U.S. dollars a barrel.

Groups to finish in the red on the day were Health Care and Consumer Staples, slipping 1.17 percent and 0.06 percent, respectively.

Health Care group snapped a streak of six straight sessions of gains. Quebec drugmaker ProMetic Life Sciences shares slumped 6.01 percent to 2.19 Canadian dollars (1.65 U.S. dollars). Prior to today’s losing session, ProMetic had gained a combined 46.54 percent during the six-session period.

The Canadian dollar rose 0.0072 to end the day at a three-week high of 0.7516 U.S. dollars.