TORONTO: Canada’s main stock index ended flat on Tuesday, as shares of energy and marijuana producers rose and a real estate trust surged on a buyout offer, balancing a dip in the materials group which was pressured by a drop in gold prices.
Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust jumped 20.4 percent to C$8.09, one cent below the all-cash offer a Blackstone Group affiliate made for the Canadian REIT.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index closed up 1.59 points, or 0.01 percent, at 16,319.24.
The energy group climbed 1.2 percent, as US crude touched its highest since December 2014, supported by OPEC-led production cuts and expectations that US crude inventories have dropped for an eighth week in a row.
Shares of Encana Corp advanced 2.8 percent to
C$17.01 after the company estimated fourth-quarter production from its core assets would top its own forecast.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 1.0 percent.
Kinross Gold Corp fell 3.9 percent to C$5.17 and Barrick Gold Corp was off 0.8 percent at C$18.14 as gold futures fell 0.7 percent to $1,309.6 an ounce.
Nutrien Ltd, the fertilizer company formed last week by a merger of Potash Corp of Saskatchewan and Agrium, fell 1.7 percent to C$65.70.
Marijuana producers were also among the biggest gainers. Canopy Growth Co climbed 5.5 percent to C$42.07 and Aphria Inc was up 4.1 percent at C$22.89.
Six of the index’s 10 main groups gained, although decliners outnumbered advancers by 1.3-to-1 overall.
Source: Brecorder.com
