Canadian shares wavered as a rally in energy shares compensated for a slump among financial stocks. The benchmark Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index (TSE:OSPTX) rose 0.2 percent to 14,565.58 at 12:37 p.m. in Toronto. More than two shares advanced for every stock that declined as seven out of ten share groups were in the positive territory.
The energy sector, the main index's second most heavily weighted group, jumped 1.9 percent as oil prices were higher by midday today.
Suncor Energy (TSE:SU), Canada's largest oil sands producer, increased 1.4 percent to C$34.87. Canadian Natural Resources Limited (TSE:CNQ), Canada’s second-largest energy producer, added 0.8 percent to C$33.44.
Front-month Brent crude futures was up 49 cents at $58.34 a barrel shortly before 12:11 p.m., having earlier hit a session low of $56.43. U.S. crude was trading up 64 cents at $52.84 per barrel, bouncing back from a bottom of $50.38.
The materials sub-index, which includes mining shares, rose 0.9 percent as gold recouped earlier losses. Goldcorp (TSE:G), Canada’s largest gold miner by market value, rallied 0.9 percent to C$20.98. Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX), the second-largest, rose 2.1 percent to C$12.96.
Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, slid 0.3 percent. Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY), which has the heaviest weighting in the index, slid 0.1 percent to C$76.84. The largest Canadian lender by market value has agreed to sell its Swiss private-banking operation to SYZ Group for an undisclosed amount.
Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD), the second-largest bank by market value, skidded 0.5 percent to C$52.14.
Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) slipped 0.3 percent to C$63.75. The third-largest Canadian bank has agreed to buy Citigroup’s retail and commercial banking businesses in Panama and Costa Rica.
Alimentation Couche-Tard (TSE:ATD.B) gained 0.8 percent to C$54.17. The largest public convenience-store operator in North America reported net earnings of $129.5 million, or 23 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, up from $123 million, or 22 cents, a year earlier.
Sirius XM Canada Holdings (NASDAQ:SIRI) rose 0.8 percent to C$3.85 after the satellite radio company reported C$83.1 million in revenue for the third quarter, up roughly 9 percent from a year earlier.
Theratechnologies (TSE:TH) gained 2 percent to C$2.08 after saying the Mexican health agency has approved the 2mg/vial presentation of tesamorelin for treating lipodystrophy.
The junior S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (CVE:OSPVX) inched up 0.2 percent to 644.81 at 12:31 p.m. in Toronto.
In economic news, The Bank of Canada should hold off cutting interest rates to avoid sending rising home prices even higher, risking a correction later, said the head of Royal LePage, the country’s largest real estate services firm.
Canadian home prices rose to a record high in June from a month ago, the sixth consecutive monthly increase, and were up strongly from a year ago as Toronto and Vancouver held momentum, the Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index showed today.
In the U.S. market, shares rose slightly today, adding to a rally that propelled the S&P 500 to its biggest three-day advance of the year. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) gained 0.4 percent to 2,108.17 at 11:56 a.m. in New York. The 30-company Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) rose 0.3 percent to 18,035.70, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) added 0.7 percent to 5,107.38. Most followed shares included JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, J&J, Amazon, Books-A-Million, Starbucks, Micron Technology, GoPro, Google, Nokia, Spirit Airlines, and Fastenal.