Canadian stock market rises over trade deals with China

Canada's main stock market went higher Monday following trade deals with China.

Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 18.97 points, or 0.13 percent, to 14,709.80 points, with six of the eight major sectors in the green.

More than 20 commercial agreements between Canadian and Chinese companies and organizations were signed on Nov. 8 between the two countries, to the tune of more than 2.5 billion Canadian dollars ( about 2.2 billion U.S. dollars). They are expected to create more than 2,000 new jobs in the Canadian market in industries such as sustainable technologies, aerospace, construction, mining, energy, and information and communications technologies.

What's more, the central banks of China and Canada have agreed to establish an offshore RMB clearing center in Canada and to arrange a currency swap worth 200 billion yuan or 30 billion Canadian dollars, according to a Canadian government statement issued at a meeting of Asia-Pacific countries Saturday.

The financial sector responded directly by growing 0.75 percent as analysts believe the designation of Canada as an offshore RMB clearing center will benefit Canadian financial service providers.

Canada's biggest lender Royal Bank added 0.62 percent to 81.58 Canadian dollars, while Manulife Financial Corp. rallied 0.89 percent to 21.42 Canadian dollars, and Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. jumped 1.65 percent to 548.10 Canadian dollars per share.

The info-tech sector, up 1.82 percent, led the gainers in TSX on Monday, when the Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry hiked 5. 78 percent to 12.63 Canadian dollars after its chief executive officer (CEO) John Chen was reported to have begun acquiring small companies and investing in growth, though BlackBerry has yet to turn steady profits.

The resources shares, however, lost ground when Energy declined 1.33 percent and Metals & Mining shrank 1.31 percent. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. was down 0.73 percent to 40.57 Canadian dollars while the miner Goldcorp Inc. dived 4.37 percent to 21.69 Canadian dollars apiece.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar went lower Monday to 0.8792 U.S dollar from 0.8824 U.S dollar last Friday.