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TORONTO, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Canada's main stock market in Toronto opened the week ahead on Monday, as a major acquisition in the Information Technology sector and a rebound in the Financials group contributed to the gains on the day.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite ticked up 38.14 points, or 0.25 percent to begin the week at 15,544.82 points. Eight of the ten sub-groups finished the day in positive territory.
The Information Technology and Financial groups had the biggest gains on the day, rising 0.86 percent and 0.44 percent, respectively.
The TSX IT group was boosted by Toronto-based DH Corporation shares soaring 9.20 percent after an American private equity firm announced a 4.8 billion Canadian dollar deal to take the company private and merge with a British firm. Shares of the financial technology firm closed the day at 25.16 Canadian dollars (18.71 U.S. dollars) and were the top traded stock on the day with a volume of nearly 12.5 million.
Also contributing to the group was a pair of Waterloo-based firms. Wireless solutions firm Blackberry Limited shares jumped 2.61 percent to close at 9.43 Canadian dollars (7.01 U.S. dollars), while enterprise IT firm Open Text Corporation shares grew 1.31 percent to 45.80 Canadian dollars (34.07 U.S. dollars).
The Financial bounced back from a 1.09 percent drop on Friday, as the CEO of Toronto-Dominion Bank, the country's second largest bank, commented on Friday's report that detailed current and former employees of breaking rules to meet their performance targets.
Shares of the firm gained 1.45 percent to close at 66.96 Canadian dollars (49.80 U.S. dollars) after dipping 5.55 percent on Friday. Group members Bank of Nova Scotia and Manulife Financial Corporation also closed ahead, advancing 0.92 percent and 0.87 percent, apiece.
The remaining groups to close the session higher were: Materials (0.54 percent), Consumer Discretionary (0.32 percent), Consumer Staples (0.19 percent), Utilities (0.16 percent), Energy (0.11 percent), and Industrials (0.08 percent).
The TSX Materials group, which is comprised of producers of gold, precious metals, and raw materials, finished higher after the spot price of copper advanced 1.13 percent to close at 2.623 U.S. dollars a pound. Subsequently, shares of Toronto-based copper producer Lundin Mining rose 1.71 percent to 7.72 Canadian dollars (5.74 U.S. dollars).
Meanwhile, the spot price of gold ticked down 0.07 percent to settle at 1,203.70 U.S. dollars an ounce. Gold miners B2Gold Corp. and Barrick Gold Corporation finished with gains of 0.75 percent and 0.12 percent, each.
The Energy group finished the day slightly ahead despite the price of Brent crude oil for May delivery inching down 3 cents to 51.36 U.S. dollars a barrel. Calgary-based energy-firm Encana Corporation was the second most traded stock during the session and closed 2.29 percent higher to settle at 14.27 Canadian dollars (10.61 U.S. dollars).
The laggard groups on the day were Telecommunications and Health Care, with respective declines of 0.36 percent and 0.17 percent.
The Canadian dollar advanced 0.10 cent to end the day at 0.7438 U.S. dollars.
