Canadian shares rose, ending a three-day losing streak, as miners jumped as gold hit a three-month high.
The benchmark Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index (TSE:OSPTX) added 0.3 percent to 15,019 at 12:39 p.m. in Toronto. Five shares advanced for every four stocks that declined as eight out of ten share groups were in the positive territory.
The consumer staples group jumped 1.6 percent and the discretionary group added 1.1 percent. Canadian Tire (TSE:CTC.A) added 1.1 percent to $127.85 after the country's largest sporting goods retailer posted a first-quarter profit of C$0.88 per share, a penny better than analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected.
Gildan Activewear (TSE:GIL/Gildan-Activewear/" rel="6030">TSE:GIL) jumped 4.2 percent to C$38.66 as the Canadian producer of cotton T-shirts to underwear said adjusted per-share profit and revenue results met the T-shirt company’s expectations.
Raw-material shares gained 0.7 percent. Goldcorp (TSE:G), the largest producer of the metal, jumped 2.5 percent to C$23.82. Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX), the second-largest, inched up 1 percent to C$15.98.
Spot gold rose to the highest since February 17 at $1,226.20 an ounce and was trading up 0.9 percent at $1,226.10 an ounce. U.S. gold futures for June delivery were up $7.70 at $1,226.00 an ounce.
The energy sector, the main index's second most heavily weighted group, fell 0.7 percent as U.S. benchmark oil prices fell below $60 a barrel. Suncor Energy (TSE:SU), Canada's largest oil sands producer, inched up 0.1 percent to C$36.27. Enbridge (TSE:ENB), Canada's largest pipeline company, skidded 0.3 percent to C$60.83.
Pacific Rubiales Energy (TSE:PRE), the Canada-based oil company focused on Colombia, fell 1.3 percent to C$5.91 after posting a first-quarter loss of $722 million, hurt by lower crude oil prices an asset-impairment charge. Revenue also fell 19 percent.
Legacy Oil Plus Gas (TSE:LEG), which operates in the U.S. and Canada, skidded 0.4 percent to C$2.76 after swinging to a first-quarter loss and posting lower cash flow and sales due to lower oil prices.
June crude traded at $59.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 1.3 percent. June Brent—the global benchmark— on London’s ICE Futures exchange was down 0.9 percent to $66.67 a barrel. The June Brent contract expires later today.
Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, edged down 0.1 percent. Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY), which has the heaviest weighting in the index, added 0.3 percent to C$78.64. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD), the second-largest bank by market value, was flat at C$55.32.
Bombardier (TSE:BBD.B), the world's third-biggest aircraft maker, climbed 3.2 percent to C$2.63 after saying it will cut about 1,750 jobs as a result of slowing demand for business jets in some international markets.
The junior S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (CVE:OSPVX) increased 0.4 percent to 696.07 at 12:21 p.m. in Toronto.
In economic news, average prices for new homes in Calgary, Canada’s oil capital, fell 0.4 percent in March, the first drop in three and a half years.
In the U.S. market, shares stepped higher today as European equities regained ground and bond markets stabilized. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) gained 0.7 percent to 2,112 at 11:32 a.m. in New York. The 30-company Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) gained 0.8 percent to 18,210, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) advanced 0.9 percent to 5,027. Most followed shares included Kohl’s, Shake Shack, Children’s Place, Crocs, J.C. Penney, Perry Ellis, Cosi, Manchester United, Puma Biotechnology, and Cisco Systems.