TSX Ends Higher On Energy Stocks As Commodities Gain -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks ended higher for a second straight session on Wednesday, tracking rising U.S. and European markets as commodity prices jumped, with crude oil continuing to make gains as stockpiles in the U.S. declined sharply. The uptick was led mainly by gold, energy and financial stocks.

Markets in the United States ended firmly in positive territory, following the pull back over the previous few sessions, with investors on some bargain hunting. Investors now look forward to the release of the retail sales and weekly jobless claims reports on Thursday.

Markets in Europe also ended in green Wednesday, on optimism for a solution to the Greek debt problem. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is scheduled to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande today. Recent volatility in the European bond market appears to have eased slightly today, despite the fact that the yield on the German 10-year bond has risen back above 1 percent for the first time since September.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank has raised funding limits that Greek banks can borrow under an emergency lending program, reports citing unnamed Greek officials said Wednesday. The move could be a boon for the extremely stressed Greek banks even as government talks with international creditors seem to linger.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index closed Wednesday at 14,889.04, up 71.33 points or 0.48 percent. The index scaled an intraday high of 14,953.03 and a low of 14,843.48.

On Tuesday, the index closed up 80.29 points or 0.54 percent, at 14,823.62. The index scaled an intraday high of 14,840.12 and a low of 14,687.00.

Crude oil futures jumped amid further evidence that U.S. shale producers are scaling back production after official data from the Energy Information Administration showed crude stockpiles in the U.S. to have declined more than expected last week. Nevertheless, U.S. production continued to remain firm with a modest increase.

a weekly report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude oil inventories dropped 6.8 million barrels in the week ended June 5, while analysts expected a decline of 1.6 million barrels. The report showed U.S. crude oil inventories at 470.6 million barrels end last week. This is the sixth straight week of decline for crude oil inventories.

Gasoline stocks dropped 2.9 million barrels last week, while analysts expected a drop of 0.5 million barrels. Inventories of distillate, including heating fuel, rose 0.9 million barrels, even as analysts anticipated an increase of 1.2 million barrels last week.

EIA also said oil production in the U.S. climbed to 9.61 million barrels a day, up by 24,000 barrels from a week earlier.

The Energy Index gained 1.25 percent, with U.S. crude oil futures for July delivery, the most actively traded contract, soaring $1.29 or 2.1 percent, to settle at $61.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday.

Among energy stocks, Suncor Energy Inc. (SU.TO) gained 0.98 percent, while Crescent Point Energy Corp. (CPG.TO) added 1.25 percent. Encana Corp. (ECA.TO) added 2.22 percent, and Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNQ.TO) gathered 0.14 percent.

Canadian Oil Sands Limited (COS.TO) shed 1.05 percent, while Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. (PRE.TO) gathered 2.87 percent. Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) gained 2.95 percent, while Enbridge Inc. (ENB.TO) inched up 0.30 percent.

Gold futures settled higher with investors opting for the safe haven appeal of the precious metal as the dollar trended lower against some major currencies amid continued focus on the developments in Europe over Greece's financial debt woes.

The Gold Index added 0.11 percent, with gold for August delivery gaining$9.00 or 0.8 percent to settle at $1,186.60 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday.

Among gold stocks, Goldcorp Inc. (G.TO) inched up 0.09 percent, Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX.TO) added 0.07 percent, Kinross Gold Corp. (K.TO) moved up 2.91 percent, IAMGOLD Corp. (IMG.TO) gained 2.17 percent, while Eldorado Gold Corp. (ELD.TO) dropped 0.89 percent.

Detour Gold Corp. (DGC.TO) dropped 1.68 percent.

The Capped Materials Index gained 0.51 percent, with Agrium Inc. (AGU.TO) up 0.37 percent. Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (AEM.TO) added 1.41 percent, while Franco-Nevada Corp. (FNV.TO) slipped 0.69 percent. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. (POT.TO) added 0.24 percent.

The Diversified Metals & Mining Index added 0.18 percent, as First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (FM.TO) shed 0.95 percent, Lundin Mining Corp. (LUN.TO) moved up 0.70 percent, and Sherritt International Corp. (S.TO) added 2.54 percent. Teck Resources (TCK.B.TO) gained 0.35 percent, while Capstone Mining Corp. (CS.TO) added 3.20 percent.

The heavyweight Financial Index gathered 0.59 percent, as Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) added 0.44 percent, National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) dipped 0.29 percent, and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) added 0.15 percent.

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) gained 0.32 percent, while Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) gathered 0.18 percent. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) added 0.64 percent.

The Capped Health Care Index fell 0.66 percent as Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (VRX.TO) lost 1.90 percent, Concordia Healthcare Corp. (CXR.TO) shed 0.22 percent, and Catamaran Corp. (CCT.TO) surrendered 0.79 percent.

The Capped Industrials Index moved up 0.26 percent, as Bombardier Inc. (BBD-A.TO) added 1.20 percent, Finning International Inc. (FTT.TO) dropped 0.68 percent. Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (CP.TO) moved up 0.03 percent, while Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) fell 0.06 percent. CAE Inc. (CAE.TO) added 0.66 percent, while Air Canada (AC.TO) dropped 0.14 percent.

The Information Technology Index inched up 0.06 percent, after Sierra Wireless, Inc. (SW.TO) gathered 1.82 percent and Descartes Systems Group Inc. (DSG.TO) inched up 0.05 percent. BlackBerry Inc. (BB.TO) slumped 3.14 percent, while Constellation Software Inc. (CSU.TO) fell 0.53 percent.

The Capped Telecommunication Index shed 0.23 percent, as Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI.B.TO) dropped 1.37 percent, TELUS Corp. (T.TO) dropped 0.58 percent, and BCE Inc. (BCE.TO) moved up 0.24 percent.

Inter Pipeline Ltd. (IPL.TO) added 0.70 percent, after completing the acquisition of four petroleum and petrochemical storage terminals in Sweden from a subsidiary of Koninklijke Vopak N.V.

Hudson's Bay Company (HBC.TO) fell 2.12 percent, having reported first quarter consolidated sales of $2.1 billion, an increase of 11.7 percent from the prior year.

Dollarama (DOL.TO) added 2.69 percent, after its first quarter diluted net earnings per share rose 28.2 percent to $0.50.

Enerplus (ERF.TO) jumped 7.12 percent, after raising its 2015 capital budget by C$60 million, from C$480 million to C$540 million.

Diversified Royalty (DIV.TO) gathered 3.45 percent, after having entered into an agreement with Sutton Group Realty Services Ltd. to acquire the Canadian and U.S. trademarks and certain other intellectual property rights utilized by Sutton in its business for $30.6 million.

Carmanah Technologies (CMH.TO) climbed 4.75 percent after agreeing to acquire the Sabik Group of Companies.

On the economic front, China's central bank on Wednesday sharply cut its inflation projection for the year and lowered the growth forecast as it expects government measures to underpin the momentum. The People's Bank of China lowered its inflation forecast to 1.4 percent from 2.2 percent predicted earlier.

The growth forecast was reduced to 7 percent from 7.1 percent. China's economic growth had eased to 7 percent in the first quarter, the weakest pace in six years, from 7.3 percent in the previous three months.

U.K. industrial production expanded in April on oil and gas extraction, while manufacturing output shrank due to the weakness in pharmaceutical products. Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that industrial output grew 0.4 percent month-on-month in April, better than the expected growth of 0.1 percent but weaker than March's 0.6 percent increase.

French industrial and manufacturing output declined unexpectedly in April, the statistical office Insee revealed Wednesday. Industrial output dropped 0.9 percent from March when it remained flat. This was the first decline in five months. Economists had forecast production to grow 0.4 percent.

France's current account turned to a surplus in April, as a decline in imports of crude oil imports led to a narrowing in the visible trade deficit, the Bank of France said Wednesday. The current account showed a surplus of EUR 0.4 billion for April versus a deficit of EUR 1.4 billion for March. The merchandise trade deficit narrowed to EUR 1.1 billion from EUR 3.2 billion.

Producer prices in Japan were up 0.3 percent on month in May, the Bank of Japan said on Wednesday. That beat the forecast for an increase of 0.2 percent following the 0.1 percent gain in April.