Toronto stocks capped off a winning year with a slight rise on Wednesday as a thin crop of investors felt little need to tinker with a market that posted its first annual increase since the high-tech boom of 2000.
The Toronto Stock Exchange S&P/TSX composite index rose 7.14 points, or 0.09 percent, to 8,220.89, leaving it not far from the 2-1/2 year high hit on Monday.
Toronto stocks ended a hefty 24 percent above last year's close of 6,614.
Investors returned to stocks in a big way, mainly because of a stronger economy, healthier corporate profits, lower interest rates and expectations for a strong start to the new year.
With trading floors sparsely populated ahead of Thursday's New Year's Day holiday, market players were trying to gauge how high the market can still rise.
"It's encouraging to see we are ending the year on a strong note and this should set the stage for a pretty decent open to trading in the new year," said Elvis Picardo, chief market strategist with Global Securities Corp.
Seven of the TSX 10 sub-indexes finished the session on a positive note but none managed a big jump. Health care stocks led the rise with a 0.6 percent gain, while telecommunications issues added 0.5 percent.
Biovail Corp rose 28 Canadian cents, or 1 percent, to C$27.91, while Angiotech Pharmaceuticals rose 75 Canadian cents, or 1.3 percent, to C$59.50.
Gold-mining issues were the biggest drag on the index, falling 0.6 percent even as bullion prices sat at their highest level since 1990. Kinross Gold fell 17 Canadian cents, or 1.6 percent, to C$10.32, while Bema Gold Corp dropped 5 Canadian cents, or 1 percent, to C$4.82.
Market momentum was positive as 650 issues advanced and 484 declined, while a light 123 million shares valued at C$1.18 billion ($908 million) changed hands.
The blue chip S&P/TSX index rose 0.74 points, or 0.16 percent, to 458.72.
Comments
Comments are closed.