Canadian shares advanced amid optimism that Greece clinched a deal with its creditors that would keep Athens afloat and part of the euro community. The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index (TSE:OSPTX) gained 1 percent to 14,561.34 at 12:30 p.m. in Toronto. Three shares advanced for every stock that declined as all of the ten share groups were in the positive territory.
Greece’s parliament will convene on Wednesday to vote on a bailout package that includes a bank recapitalization, potentially giving the ECB room to ease its liquidity restraints. The program was agreed by euro-area leaders with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in almost 17 hours of talks in Brussels.
The materials sub-index, which includes mining shares, rose 0.9 percent even as gold futures fell. Goldcorp (TSE:G), Canada’s largest gold miner by market value, skidded 0.1 percent to C$20.82. Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX), the second-largest, slipped 0.8 percent to C$12.72.
August gold lost 0.45 to $1,153 an ounce on Comex after tallying a decline of more than $5 an ounce in the past two trading sessions.
Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, rose 0.8 percent. Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY), which has the heaviest weighting in the index, added 0.8 percent to C$77.21. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD), the second-largest bank by market value, gained 0.7 percent to C$52.73.
The energy sector, the main index's second most heavily weighted group, inched up 0.1 percent as oil, Canada’s largest export, moves higher. Suncor Energy (TSE:SU), Canada's largest oil sands producer, edged up 0.6 percent to C$34.19. Canadian Natural Resources Limited (TSE:CNQ), Canada’s second-largest energy producer, picked up 0.9 percent to C$33.32.
West Texas Intermediate for August delivery rose 0.7 percent to $53.11 per barrel.
BlackBerry (TSE:BB) gained 2.1 percent to C$9.95. The company’s president of global sales, John Sims, suddenly left the company and is being replaced by Cisco Systems sales veteran Carl Wiese. The management change highlights the smartphone maker’s struggle to reignite sales growth in the face of months of cost cutting.
easyhome (TSE:EH) inched up 0.1 percent to C$19.01. The merchandise-leasing company bought 14 Canadian stores from U.S.-based Rent-A-Center for C$3.4 million. easyhome said it will merge the new stores with some of its existing easyhome leasing stores over the next few weeks.
Stantec (TSE:STN) gained 2.6 percent to $37.02 after buying VI Engineering, a small Texas power and electrical engineering firm. The engineering design company didn’t disclose the financial terms of the deal, which it said will help grow its North American presence.
The junior S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (CVE:OSPVX) rose 0.5 percent to 643.92 at 12:24 p.m. in Toronto.
In the U.S. market, shares climbed sharply in early trade today as investors turned optimistic after eurozone leaders over the weekend reached an agreement for a third bailout program for Greece. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) rose 0.9 percent to 2,095.99 at 11:43 a.m. in New York. The 30-company Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) gained 1.1 percent to 17,950.05, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) rallied 1.3 percent to 5,062.20. Most followed shares included Seagate, Fitbit, Medtronic, Comcast, Starbucks, Jarden, PepsiCo, Ascena Retail, BorgWarner, Dana Holding, Ingersoll-Rand, Jacobs Engineering, and Black Hills.