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Stocks Resume Rise

Baystreet - Mon Dec 18, 2023
Canada's main stock index gained on Monday with energy and material shares leading the charge on rising commodity prices, in a positive start to the week filled with global economic reports, including domestic consumer prices data.

The TSX Composite surged 111.23 points to reach noon at 20,640.38.

The Canadian dollar slid 0.14 cents at 74.58 cents U.S.

The materials sector, which houses Canada's major mining firms, gained with steel producers Algoma Steel Group and Stelco Holdings leading gains. Algoma shares sprang up 68 cents, or 5.8%, to $12.36, while Stelco shares perked $1.87, or 3.9%, to $50.14.

Lightspeed Commerce gained 2.8% after J.P.Morgan upgraded the software firm's rating to "neutral" from "underweight". Lightspeed shares gained 41 cents, or 1.7%, to $24.40.

Dundee Precious Metals dropped 81 cents, or 8.3%, to $8.95, after the company announced its acquisition of Osino Resources.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange regained 0.38 points to 531.23.

All but three of the 12 subgroups were higher in the first hour of trade, led by energy’s 2% progress, while materials collected 0.9% and consumer discretionary jumped 0.6%.

The three laggards were health-care, down 0.7%, real-estate, fading 0.3%, and information technology, off 0.2%. Health-care stocks were unchanged.

ON WALLSTREET

Stocks rose Monday as the market maintained the momentum seen during its seven-week winning streak.

The Dow Jones Industrials advanced 59.02 points as morning became afternoon Monday at 37,364.18.

The S&P 500 turned higher 21.18 points to 4,740.61.

The NASDAQ jumped 60.58 points to 14,874.27.

Energy stocks outperformed in the S&P 500, with the sector up more than 1% on rising oil prices. Coterra Energy and Marathon Oil shares were each higher by about 2%.

U.S. Steel shares surged more than 26% after Japan’s Nippon Steel said it would buy the company in a deal valued at $14.9 billion. Adobe shares gained roughly 1% after the company said it would end its $20-billion merger with cloud-based design platform Figma because of regulatory hurdles.

The winning streak for the S&P 500 marked its longest string of weekly gains since 2017. The broad market index is up by 3.5% for the month, while the Dow is up 3.9%, and NASDAQ has improved 4.3% higher. The Dow also posted an intraday record on Friday, and the Nasdaq 100 had a new closing high.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury fell back a bit, raising yields to 3.96% from Friday’s 3.91%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices hiked $1.88 to $73.31 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices assumed two dollars at $2,037.70.