Canadian stock climbs on resources shares rally, merger news

Canada's main stock market Tuesday inched up over a rally in resources shares and Tim Hortons' merger plan.

Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 20.47 points or 0.13 percent to 15,619.21 points, and most of the eight major sectors on the TSX traded higher.

The mining sector grew 0.79 percent as gold shares rebounded with S&P/TSX Global Gold Index up 1.81 percent after a three-day straight slump. Goldcorp Inc. rallied 2.07 percent to 30.13 Canadian dollars (about 27.51 U.S. dollars), and Barrick Gold Corp. advanced 1.01 percent to 19.95 Canadian dollars.

The energy sector added 0.5 percent when Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. climbed 1.16 percent to 47.16 Canadian dollars.

TSX trading sentiment was boosted as Canada's biggest coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons climbed after it said it was in merger talks with the world's second largest fast food chain Burger King in an about 11 billion U.S. dollars deal to create the world's third largest fast food restaurant group. Tim Hortons surged 8.14 percent per share to 88.71 Canadian dollars.

Tim Hortons president and CEO Marc Caira said, "This transaction will not only allow us to preserve our rich Canadian heritage, but it will allow us to bring even more meaningful benefits to Canada in the long run."

However, the most heavily-weighted sector, financials, lost ground by 0.49 percent when Statistics Canada reported that Canadian corporations earned 87.8 billion Canadian dollars in operating profits in the second quarter, up 2.6 percent from the previous quarter, much lower compared with a 3.8 percent increase in the first quarter.

Royal Bank of Canada waned 0.37 percent to 80.68 Canadian dollars, and Bank of Nova Scotia plunged 2.35 percent to 72.45 Canadian dollars after it reported its earnings in the third quarter ended July 31, 2014.

The industrial sector gave back 0.06 percent with Air Canada down 2.91 percent to 8.69 Canadian dollars per share.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar Tuesday rose to 0. 9131 U.S. dollar, compared with 0.9107 U.S. dollars on Monday.