Canadian stock market edges up as energy boosts

Canada's main stock market in Toronto gained slightly Monday as the energy shares rallied over the rebounding oil prices, offsetting losses from some non- resource sectors.

Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 16.78 points, or 0.11 percent, to 15,100.70 points, with the gains from energy and miners leading the increase.

A rally in oil prices helped push up the TSX index, as the global benchmark light, sweet crude for March delivery advanced 1. 17 U.S. dollars to settle at 52.86 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

And investor confidence also built up after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on Monday that non- OPEC oil supply was projected to grow by 850,000 barrels a day in 2015, down 420,000 barrels from the previous assessment.

Energy was the biggest gainer by 1.76 percent. Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. soared 10.32 percent to 11.55 Canadian dollars (about 9. 27 U.S. dollars), and Suncor Energy Inc. moved up 1.45 percent to 39.30 Canadian dollars per share.

Meanwhile, the miners' shares including precious and basic metals producers also strengthened TSX as the sector Metals and Mining gained 0.78 percent.

Goldcorp Inc. increased 2.03 percent to 29.22 Canadian dollars and the basic metals giant Teck jumped 3.04 percent to 18.62 Canadian dollars apiece.

Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, advanced 0.42 percent, as Royal Bank of Canada gained 0.43 percent to 76.40 Canadian dollars, and Toronto-Dominion Bank increased 0.48 percent to 54.52 Canadian dollars.

The losers included Telecom and Health Care, down 0.98 percent and 0.97 percent respectively. Industrials edged down 0.65 percent as Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. shed 1.15 percent to 232.41 Canadian dollars.

Although Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported Monday morning that housing starts rose 4.3 percent from December, the real estate stocks were in the red as the heavyweight H&R Real Estate Investment Trust lost 1.3 percent to 24.24 Canadian dollars after the Toronto-based commercial properties developer announced that it completed 125 million U.S. dollars senior unsecured debenture financing.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar on Monday moved up to 0.8022 U.S. dollar from 0.7985 U.S. dollar on Friday.