Canadian stock market inches higher as health care offsets resources slump

Canada's main stock market in Toronto Tuesday eked out a marginal gain as a rally in health care shares overpowered resources sectors.

Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's / TSX Composite Index was slightly higher 22.61 points or 0.16 percent to 14,491.05 points, after a three-day weekend.

The trading sentiment was stagnant in the midday trading when resources shares tumbled. And the mining sector led the fall by 2. 27 percent on the closing bell, while the energy sector lost 0.75 percent.

Most of the companies from the oil-patch and the mining industry were in the negative territory, when Encana Corp. plunged 3.12 percent to 9.63 Canadian dollars (about 7.31 U.S. dollars) and First Quantum Minerals Ltd. shrank 3.06 percent to 10.13 Canadian dollars per share.

Resources stocks, which are major components of the Canadian equities market, were hammered down when investors frowned at the outlook for the commodities prices when China's commodities imports slowed down sharply.

The combined imports of 15 commodities including crude oil, natural gas, coal and iron ore, dropped 32 percent year on year to 215.2 billion U.S. dollars in the first half year, according to China's Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday.

However, Health Care, up 1.56 percent, helped boost the index when its heavyweight ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. jumped 4.42 percent to 2.36 Canadian dollars after the Quebec-based bio- pharmaceutical company announce on Tuesday that an orphan drug designation status has been granted for its human plasma derived plasminogen drug by the European Commission for the treatment of plasminogen deficiency.

Other gainers included the most influential sector Financials, up 0.07 percent, and Industrials, up 0.34 percent.

On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported on Tuesday that Canada's retail sales grew 4.6 percent in 2014, the highest annual growth rate since 2010, and general merchandise stores continued to increase their market share of food and beverage sales in 2014.

The food retailer and distributor Metro Inc. rallied 1.99 percent to 36.3 Canadian dollars apiece.

By contrast, the RBC Canadian Manufacturing Purchasing Managers ' index, a measure of manufacturing business conditions, slowed to 50.8 in July, from June's six-month high of 51.3 but remained above the neutral 50.0 threshold.

Paul Ferley, an assistant chief economist of RBC., said that"As we enter the second half the year, a strengthening U.S. economy and weaker Canadian dollar should provide a greater boost to exports and business conditions for manufacturers."

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar Monday dropped sharply to 0.7587 U.S. dollar, a newly-refreshed low in 11 years, when compared with 0.7645 U.S. dollar on last Friday.