Canadian stock market rebounds after higher oil prices

Canada's main stock market in Toronto on Tuesday rebounded when higher oil prices and the US retail sales data buoyed the trading sentiment.

After a slump for the previous two days, the Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index climbed 109.37 points, or 0.82 percent, to close at 13,462.71 points, with all the eight major sectors moving higher, led by Utilities whose shares soared by 2.55 percent in the day.

With no stimulative macro-economic data released, the index was mainly supported by the rising oil prices when light, sweet crude for October delivery edged up 59 U.S. cents Tuesday to settle at $44.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Xinhua news agency reported.

Energy was up 0.25 percent when most companies from the oil-patch rebounded higher with Encana up 1.06 percent to 9.51 Canadian dollars (about 7.18 U.S. dollars) a share, and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. up 0.92 percent to 26.33 Canadian dollars a share.

But Suncor Energy Inc., the biggest oil and gas producer in this country, lowered 0.51 percent to 33.42 Canadian dollars a share.

And the equities market in Toronto was also pushed up by the newly released U.S retail sales data when investors focused on the US central bank's two-day policy meeting starting Wednesday.

According to the US commerce department Tuesday, the advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for August increased 0.2 percent from the previous month to $447.7 bn.

Although it was slightly below market consensus of a 0.3-percent gain, this suggested a stronger consumer spending profile for the third quarter, and provided further evidence that the US domestic economy continues to improve at a healthy pace, according to a report issued by TD Bank Tuesday.

And Bank of Canada, the country's central bank, said last week that a firm recovery in the US, with particular strength in the sectors of the US economy, is important for Canadian exports.

Other gainers in TSX included Industrials and Info Tech, up 1.6 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.

On the currency front, the Canadian dollar on Tuesday edged higher to $0.7549, when compared with $0.7543 on Monday.