CANADA STOCKS-TSX rises as investors welcome British Columbia election result

By Reuters News

By Fergal Smith

- Canada's main stock index rebounded on Monday, led by financial and resource shares, after the result of British Columbia's provincial election potentially raised prospects for oil and gas companies.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index .GSPTSE ended up 155.98 points, or 0.4%, at 35,944.16, after posting on Friday its lowest closing level since October 14.

  • The opposition Conservative Party won an election in the province of British Columbia for the first time in nearly 100 years, promising to ramp up liquefied natural gas production.

  • "People are talking about the BC elections," said Barry Schwartz, chief investment officer at Baskin Wealth Management. "For oil and gas and construction companies, it's directionally positive."

  • The energy sector .SPTTEN, which includes a number of companies with a market capitalization greater than C$100 billion ($71.34 billion), such as Canadian Natural Resources CNQ.TO and Suncor Energy SU.TO, rose 0.4%.

  • US crude oil futures settled 1.5% lower but remained elevated at $101.76 a barrel.

  • "The longer oil stays at these levels, you kind of have to own a CNQ or Suncor," Schwartz said.

  • The materials group .GSPTTMT, which includes metal mining shares, was up 0.7%. Gold rebounded from the previous session's more than three-month low as the drop in oil tempered inflation concerns ahead of a US Federal Reserve policy decision on Wednesday.

  • Heavily weighted financials .SPTTFS rose 0.8% and industrials .GSPTTIN ended 0.5% higher.

  • CAE CAE.TO said it will sell Flightscape, its airline operations software business, to fellow global aviation technology firm SITA in a deal valued at $500 million, including debt. Shares of CAE rose 4.6%.

  • Algoma Steel ASTL.TO ended 2.6% higher. The United States and Canada are working on a deal to ease US tariffs on Canadian steel and autos, two US and four Canadian sources said.

  • Five of the 10 major sectors ended lower, including consumer discretionary .GSPTTCD. It lost 0.6%, with shares of clothing retailer Aritzia ATZ.TO down 2.3%.

($1 = 1.4018 Canadian dollars)

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