BLBG: Canadian Stocks Gain as U.S. Retail Sales, Oil Futures Advance
By Matt Walcoff
April 14 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian stocks rose for the first time in three days as oil futures ended a five-day streak of losses and the U.S. reported retail sales increased faster than estimated in March.
Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas company, gained 1 percent as crude oil advanced from an April low. Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s biggest gold producer, increased 1.7 percent as the U.S. dollar slipped for a fourth day against a basket of world currencies. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. fell 2.9 percent on an analyst downgrade.
The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index climbed 16.03 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,117.55 at 9:33 a.m. in Toronto.
The S&P/TSX rallied 8.6 percent from Feb. 5 to April 5 as oil prices surged 22 percent on speculation an economic recovery will lead to a rebound in demand for energy. Since then, the benchmark index and crude futures have dropped 0.6 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively, as economists forecast a rise in oil inventories.
