Canadian shares rallied on Thursday as Canadian exports surged for a second month in July and the European Central Bank revamped its quantitative-easing program.
The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index (TSE:OSPTX) rose 0.7% to 13,639.62 at 12:14 p.m. in Toronto. More than two shares advanced for every issue that declined as nine out of ten share groups were in positive territory.
Exports rose 2.3 percent after a 5.5 percent gain in June, Statistics Canada said in a report on Thursday. The data added to evidence Canada’s economy is rebounding from a slump.
ECB President Mario Draghi raised the purchase limit of a country’s debt stock, allowing officials to buy higher proportions of each euro area member’s debt.
The energy sector, the main index's second most heavily weighted group, rose 1.3% as oil, Canada’s largest export, soared as much as 4%.
Suncor Energy (TSE:SU), Canada's largest oil sands producer, gained 0.9% to C$35.33. Enbridge (TSE:ENB), Canada's largest pipeline company, rose 2.3% to C$53.97.
Canadian Oil Sands (TSE:COS) fell 3.8% to $6.52 after the investment company said production of Canada’s largest synthetic crude project would be “minimal” for two weeks after a weekend fire at Syncrude’s main plant.
U.S. crude rose 2.3% to $47.31 per barrel, having traded between a low of $45.65 and high of $48.42. It settled $0.84 higher on Wednesday.
The materials sub-index, which includes mining shares, edged higher 0.4% even as gold fell 1% on Thursday.
Goldcorp (TSE:G), Canada’s largest gold miner by market value, sank 0.3% to C$18.18. Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX), Canada’s second-largest gold miner, fell 0.7% to C$8.82.
Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, added 0.9%. Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY), which has the heaviest weighting in the index, surged 1% to C$72.06. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD), the second-largest bank by market value, ticked up 0.6% to C$51.70.
Canadian Western Bank (TSE:CWB) rose 0.9% to C$24.09 after saying its third-quarter adjusted cash earnings totaled to C$0.65 per share, down C$0.02 from a year earlier but ahead of the C$0.67 analysts polled by Capital IQ predicted.
Imvescor Restaurant Group (TSE:IRG) gained 6.5% to C$2.14 after saying its third-quarter profit rose 39% to C$2.5 million, or 4 Canadian cents a share. Year-earlier results were weighed down by C$1 million in impairment charges and other costs, the restaurant operator noted. Same-restaurant sales were up 1.2%.