Canadian shares advanced today as oil and gas producers rallied on stronger crude prices while gold lifted miners.
The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index (TSE:OSPTX) rose 0.8 percent to 14,940 at 12:40 p.m. in Toronto. Five shares advanced for every issue that declined as eight out of ten share groups were in the positive territory.
The energy sector, the main index's second most heavily weighted group, climbed 1.4 percent as oil, Canada’s largest export, rallied for a second straight day.
Suncor Energy (TSE:SU), Canada's largest oil sands producer, gained 1 percent to $36.22. Canadian Natural Resources Limited (TSE:CNQ), Canada’s second-largest energy producer, added 1.1 percent to C$37.17.
Enerplus (TSE:ERF) jumped 6.5 percent to C$11.81 after the oil company operating in western Canada increased its production guidance for the remainder of 2015. The energy producer also increased its capital budget by C$60 million to C$540 million.
Inter Pipeline (TSE:IPL) advanced 1.1 percent to C$30.13 after purchasing four petroleum and petrochemical storage terminals from Vopak in Sweden for about C$131 million.
Global crude benchmark Brent was up 0.3 percent at $65.08 a barrel, from the session high of $66.36. U.S. crude was 40 cents higher at $60.55, versus the intraday peak of $61.82.
The materials sub-index, which includes mining shares, gained 1 percent as gold rose for a third straight session. Goldcorp (TSE:G), Canada’s largest gold miner by market value, slid 0.1 percent to C$21.18. Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX), the second-largest, inched up 0.3 percent to C$14.28.
Spot gold climbed as much as 1.3 percent to a one-week high of $1,189 an ounce and was last up 0.9 percent at $1,192.
Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, picked up 1 percent. Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY), which has the heaviest weighting in the index, rose 0.9 percent to C$78.61. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD), the second-largest bank by market value, advanced 0.8 percent to C$54.88.
Dollarama (TSE:DOL) jumped 2.8 percent to C$72.86 as Canada's largest dollar-store retailer reported an increase in first quarter sales and earnings.
Hudson’s Bay (TSE:HBC) slid 0.3 percent to C$23.95 as the middle-market Canadian department store chain reported a first-quarter net loss.
Diversified Royalty (TSE:DIV) added 3.1 percent to C$2.99 after the multi-royalty corporation agreed to buy Canadian and U.S. trademarks, as well as number of other intellectual property rights, from Sutton Group Realty Services for C$30.6 million.
The junior S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (CVE:OSPVX) rose 0.6 percent to 685.58 at 12:36 p.m. in Toronto.
In the U.S. market, shares opened higher today as a continued rise in oil prices buoyed energy shares. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) added 1.2 percent to 2,105.02 at 11:50 a.m. in New York. The 30-company Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) advanced 1.4 percent to 18,009.58, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (INDEXNASDAQ:NDX) jumped 1.3 percent to 5,076.32. Most followed shares included Netflix, Qorvo, Nvidia, NetApp, Oxford Industries, Mattress Farm, Johnson Controls, HCC Insurance Holdings, Prudential Financial, Assurant, and GlobeImmune.