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TORONTO, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Canada's main stock market in Toronto moved up for a fourth time in five sessions on Wednesday to close in on at its all-time record, as gains in Financial and Energy stocks offset losses in mining stocks.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite climbed 33.15 points, or 0.21 percent, to close the day at 15,643.84 points. Six of the ten sub-groups ended the session higher.
Since the beginning of the year, the index is up 356.25 points (2.33 percent) and is approaching the all-time high of 15,685.13 reached on Sep. 3, 2014.
The TSX Financials and Energy groups had the biggest impact on the market on the day, gaining 0.74 percent and 0.43 percent, respectively.
The Finance group was fuelled by insurance firms Manulife Financial Corporation and Sun Life Financial Inc., with gains of 1.48 percent and 0.99 percent, respectively. Also contributing were Canada's largest banks. No. 1 ranked Royal Bank of Canada shares moved up 0.65 percent to close at 93.99 Canadian dollars (71.90 U.S. dollars), while No. 4 ranked Bank of Montreal advanced 1.02 percent to close at 100.26 (76.70 U.S. dollars).
Energy stocks continued to build from United States President Donald Trump's executive action Tuesday to reignite the Keystone XL project that would bring more oil from Canada's oil sands to south of the border.
TransCanada Corporation, the firm that would construct the pipeline closed 1.09 percent high at an all-time high of 40.00 Canadian dollars (30.60 U.S. dollars) a share. Meanwhile, Calgary-based Baytex Energy Corp. and Encana Corporation saw respective gains of 0.52 percent and 0.79 percent.
Other groups to finish the day in positive territory were: Health Care (0.86 percent), Information Technology (0.74 percent), Consumer Discretionary (0.73 percent), and Utilities (0.53 percent).
Health Care group had a strong day, as Quebec-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc. rose 2.29 percent to close at 18.32 Canadian dollars (14.01 U.S. dollars) a share, ending a run of four straight losing sessions. Since the beginning of the year, the stock is down 10.72 percent.
Groups to finish Wednesday in negative territory were: Telecommunications (0.77 percent), Materials (0.76 percent), Consumer Staples (0.18 percent), and Industrials (0.03 percent).
The Materials group, which features producers of gold, precious metals, and raw materials, fell as the spot price of gold retreated 7.80 U.S. dollars an ounce to close at 1,200.70. Since finishing last week at an eight-week high, the price of bullion has lost momentum. The price of the same weight of silver also dropped, sinking 0.47 percent to 16.98 U.S. dollars.
Toronto-based Kinross Gold Corporation was one of the most actively traded stocks in the group, slipping 3.95 percent to 4.86 Canadian dollar (3.72 U.S. dollars) a share. Barrick Gold, the world's largest gold miner, shares fell 1.01 percent to 23.60 Canadian dollars (18.05 U.S. dollars) after announcing in their 2016 Production Guidance that total gold output fell 9.8 percent to 5.52 million ounces.
The Canadian dollar rose 0.55 cents to close the day at 0.7650 U.S. dollars.
