The Canadian market ended on a positive note on Monday as firm oil and metal prices triggered strong buying in energy and materials sectors.
The mood in the market remained somewhat cautious with investors awaiting some key U.S. and Canadian economic data for directional cues.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up 87.63 points or 0.39% at 22,398.93. The index touched a low of 22,322.76 and a high of 22,452.70.
The Materials Capped Index climbed 3.55%. Osisko Mining (OSK.TO) soared 63%. Johannesburg-based gold producer Gold Fields Ltd said it has agreed to acquire Osisko Mining for C$2.16 billion. Gold Fields will pay C$4.90 per share, a 55% premium to Osiskos Aug. 9 trading price, it said in a statement.
Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) surged nearly 9.5%. Barrick Gold announced a dividend of $0.10 per share for the second quarter of 2024. In addition to the dividend, Barrick repurchased 2.95 million shares during the second quarter under the $1 billion share buyback program that was announced in February 2024.
Iamgold Corp (IMG.TO) zoomed nearly 11% on stronger than expected quarterly results. New Gold Inc (NGD.TO) and Wesdome Gold Mines (WDO.TO) gained 8.4% and 7.4%, respectively. Novagold (NG.TO), Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO), B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO), Lundin Gold (LUG.TO), Kinross Gold Corp (K.TO), Seabridge Gold (SEA.TO) and Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) climbed 5 to 6.2%.
The Energy Capped Index surged 3.02%. Kelt Exploration (KEL.TO) rallied 8.4% and Advantage Oil & Gas (AAV.TO) climbed 7.8%. Birchcliff Energy (BIR.TO), Arc Resources (ARX.TO), Peyto Exploration (PEY.TO), Baytex Energy (BTE.TO), Parex Resources (PXT.TO), Nuvista Energy (NVA.TO) and Athabasca Oil Corp (ATH.TO) gained 4 to 6%.
Tourmaline Oil Corp. (TOU.TO) gained 4.2%. The company announced Monday that it has agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Crew Energy Inc. in exchange for 18.778 million Tourmaline common shares and the assumption of net debt of approximately $240 million, for total consideration of approximately $1.3 billion.
Technology stocks Converge Technology Solutions (CTS.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO) and Dye & Durham (DND.TO) lost 2.5 to 4%. Sylogist (SYZ.TO), Bitfarms (BITF.TO), Open Text Corp (OTEX.TO) and Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) ended down 1.2 to 1.7%.
Scotiabank (BNS.TO) ended 3.4% down. The bank announced on Monday that it has inked a deal to acquire around 14.9% pro-forma ownership stake in KeyCorp, a financial services firm, through an issuance of shares at $17.17 per share. The total cash consideration stands at around $2.8 billion.
On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed building permits in Canada decreased to -13.9% in June from -12.7% in May.