Canadian market extends record high

TORONTO—Canada’s main stock market in Toronto prolonged its all-time high on Wednesday, as strong gains in health care and telecommunications highlighted the index rising for the seventh straight day.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s benchmark Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite rose 58.92 points, or 0.37 percent, to close the day at 15,844.95 points. Nine of the 10 sub-groups finished the session ahead.

For the second straight day, the Health Care sector posted the highest percentage gains, jumping 3.22 percent as pharmaceutical executives voiced their displeasure against U.S. President Trump’s intent of deregulating the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

As a result, shares of Quebec-based drugmakers ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. benefitted from the news, soaring 8.47 percent and 5.56 percent, respectively.

The TSX Telecommunications group posted a 1.78 percent gain, as the 3.9 billion Canadian dollar deal for BCE Inc. to purchase Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. (MTS) was given a conditional approval by the Competition Bureau and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. The deal, which was first announced in May is expected to close on March 17.

As a result, shares of MTS jumped 5.11 percent to 39.52 Canadian dollars (30.23 U.S. dollars), while BCE closed at 58.65 Canadian dollars (44.87 U.S. dollars), a 1.12 percent gain.

Other groups to finish the day higher were: Industrials (0.87 percent), Information Technology (0.85 percent), Financials (0.82 percent), Energy (0.72 percent), Consumer Staples (0.40 percent), Consumer Discretionary (0.25 percent), and Utilities (0.05 percent).

The TSX Industrials group finished ahead as Montreal-based Bombardier Inc. was the third most actively traded stock on the day with more than 6.3 million shares exchanged to finish the session at 2.58 Canadian dollars (1.97 U.S. dollars), a 3.20 percent uplift.

Energy stocks finished higher despite the crude oil price finishing down. Price of Brent delivered for April fell 0.38 percent to close at 55.70 U.S. dollars a barrel. Meanwhile, Calgary-based energy firms Suncor Energy Inc. and MEG Energy Corp. saw respective gains of 1.48 percent and 1.05 percent.

The TSX Materials group was the lone group to lose ground on the day, slumped 1.20 percent. The group which consists of producers of gold, precious metals, and raw materials, has lost ground in fourth straight sessions.

Tech Resources, the largest producer of steel-making coal in North America saw shares plunge 10.25 percent to 29.32 Canadian dollars (22.43 U.S. dollars) after they reported higher than expected profits during the quarter due to a temporary increase in demand in November, before falling sharply.

The Canadian dollar ticked up 0.03 cents to close at 0.7650 U.S. dollars.