Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Canadian stocks rose, headed for a seven-week high, as gold producers increased amid signs of physical buying and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. rallied after its bid for Allergan Inc. ended.
Argonaut Gold Inc. and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. rallied at least 1.3 per cent. Valeant Pharmaceuticals added 1.2 per cent as its hostile bid for Allergan was topped by Actavis Plc. TransCanada Corp. increased 2.3 per cent after activist investor Sandell Asset Management said it should sell assets to boost its share price.
The Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index rose 76.49 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 14,919.59, headed for the highest close since Sept. 30. The benchmark Canadian equity gauge has rallied 4.3 per cent in the past five weeks, the longest stretch of weekly gains since March.
The index has advanced 9.4 per cent this year, the fourth-best performer among the world's 24 developed markets.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 6.80 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 17,641.54, the S&P 500 lost 0.90 of a point, or 0.04 per cent, to 2,038.92 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 23.17 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 4,665.37.
The largest percentage gainer on the S&P 500 was Baker Hughes, up 10.6 per cent on news Halliburton would acquire it in a cash and stock transaction of about $34.6-billion. Halliburton shares fell 9.3 per cent.
In Toronto, Argonaut Gold jumped 6.4 per cent to $2.16 and Agnico Eagle rose 1.3 per cent to $28.68 as raw-materials producers increased 0.2 per cent as a group. Nine of 10 industries rose on trading volume 14 per cent below the 30-day average at this time of the day.
Gold for December delivery fell 0.1 per cent in New York, after climbing to $1,193.60 an ounce earlier, the highest since 0ct. 31.
Japan unexpectedly fell into a recession last quarter as gross domestic product shrank an annualized 1.6 per cent in the three months through September, a second straight drop, to match the textbook definition of a recession. Japanese stocks slumped.
Japan's Economy The world's third-largest economy is struggling with an April sales-tax boost, suggesting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will likely hold off another tax increase scheduled for October 2015.
TransCanada, developer of the stalled Keystone XL pipeline, climbed 2.3 per cent to $57.08. Sandell Asset Management said the company should sell all U.S. assets to the master-limited partnership it controls and spin off its power-generation business to trade at $75 a share.
AutoCanada Inc., which owns car dealerships across Canada, jumped 8.6 per cent to $58.98. The company will buy an 80 per cent interest in Bridges Chevrolet Buick GMC, a dealership located in North Battleford, Saskatchewan.