Roundup: Canadian stock market advances on strong U.S. housing data
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E-mail Xinhua, July 19, 2012
Roundup: Canadian stock market advances on strong U.S. housing data
TORONTO, July 18 (Xinhua) -- The Canadian stock market advanced on Wednesday as commodity prices moved higher with further evidence of a slow housing recovery in the United States.
The S&P/TSX composite closed up 7.96 points or 0.07 percent at 11,579.15, while the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index was also 5.59 points or 0.48 percent higher at 1,182.34.
The Canadian dollar on Wednesday went up to one against 0.99 U. S. dollars after the release of the Bank of Canada's Monetary Policy Report and a news conference by Bank Governor Mark Carney.
The Bank of Canada on Tuesday opted to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at one percent, while again indicating that rates will rise in the future. The bank made the prediction in its latest Monetary Policy Report released earlier on Wednesday that the Canadian economic recovery is struggling to retain the forward momentum.
The energy sector on the Canadian stock market went up about 0. 3 percent, as the August crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 0.8 percent to 89.96 U.S. dollars a barrel. Canadian Natural Resources climbed 2.78 percent to 28.07 Canadian dollars per share.
The base metals and mining sector was also ahead 1.33 percent, as copper prices gained two pennies to 3.47 U.S. dollars a pound.
Tech stocks also advanced as Blackberry maker Research In Motion Ltd. traded 0.14 percent higher at 7.03 Canadian dollars.
With good news from the U.S. financial sector on Wednesday, financial stocks on the Canadian market were also positive as Bank of Nova Scotia rose about 0.5 percent to 52.29 Canadian dollars.
The U.S. Commerce Department said that housing starts rose 6.9 percent in June from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 760,000, which beat the market expectation of 743,000. At the same time, the number of permits to build homes in the United States, a sign of future construction, fell 3.7 percent to 755,000. That was down from May's 3.5-year high. Enditem
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