Canadian Stocks Are Climbing On Commodity Strength -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market is gaining ground in early trade Monday, following the pullback at the end of the last trading week. Rising commodity prices are providing a boost to energy and gold stocks at the start of the new trading week. Crude oil prices have climbed back above $43 a barrel on hopes for an OPEC agreement to curb production.

However, investors remain in a cautious mood ahead of the Bank of Japan and Federal Reserve meetings on Wednesday. Recent soft economic data has led most analysts to predict that the Fed will leave interest rates unchanged, but the central bank could still surprise the markets.

Markets in Europe are trading firmly in positive territory Monday, following two weeks of losses. Rebounding crude oil prices propelled the markets higher in early trade, but have since settled into a sideways trend.

Markets in the United States are trading modestly higher at the start of the new trading week, thanks to the strong performance of the overseas markets. Rising crude oil prices are also contributing to the positive mood.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 99.99 points or 0.69 percent at 14,550.60.

On Friday, the index closed down 52.98 points or 0.37 percent, at 14,450.69. The index scaled an intraday high of 14,471.48 and a low of 14,387.53.

The Gold Index is higher by 1.36 percent. Gold prices have turned higher Monday morning, reversing early losses.

Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) is climbing 0.74 percent and Kinross Gold (K.TO) is gaining 2.05 percent. Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) is rising 0.57 percent and IAMGOLD (IMG.TO) is advancing 3.38 percent. B2Gold (BTO.TO) is up 2.51 percent and Yamana Gold (YRI.TO) is increasing 1.73 percent.

Goldcorp (G.TO) is higher by 0.34 percent. The company announced that it has appointed Charlie Sartain to its Board of Directors, effective January 1.

The Capped Healthcare Index is higher by 1.31 percent. Extendicare (EXE.TO) is up 0.22 percent and Valeant Pharmaceuticals Internationals (VRX.TO) is rising 0.51 percent.

The Energy Index is up 1.12 percent. Crude oil prices are rising Monday morning amid signs that Venezuela will compel its OPEC brothers and Iran to curb output in order to stabilize the market.

"We had a long bilateral meeting with [Iran's president Hassan] Rouhani. We're close to a deal between OPEC producer countries and non-OPEC," Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro told a news conference at the end of a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) is climbing 1.08 percent and Encana (ECA.TO) is advancing 3.34 percent. Suncor Energy (SU.TO) is increasing 0.70 percent and Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) is adding 0.63 percent. Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) is up 1.40 percent and Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) is gaining 1.51 percent. Husky Energy (HSE.TO) is rising 0.26 percent.

The Capped Materials Index is up 0.98 percent. Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) is gaining 0.82 percent and Franco-Nevada (FNV.TO) is rising 0.96 percent. Silver Wheaton (SLW.TO) is advancing 1.68 percent.

The Capped Information Technology Index is rising 0.89 percent. Constellation Software (CSU.TO) is up 1.43 percent and Sierra Wireless (SW.TO) is advancing 1.98 percent. Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) is gaining 0.50 percent and BlackBerry (BB.TO) is climbing 2.52 percent.

The heavyweight Financial Index is increasing 0.88 percent. Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) is up 0.71 percent and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) is rising 1.13 percent. Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) is higher by 0.97 percent and National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) is climbing 1.76 percent. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) is gaining 0.62 percent and Toronto Dominion Bank (TD.TO) is adding 0.89 percent.

The Capped Telecommunication Services Index is up 0.28 percent. TELUS (T.TO) is gaining 0.38 percent and Manitoba Telecom Services (MBT.TO) is adding 0.11 percent. BCE (BCE.TO) is rising 0.12 percent and Rogers Communication (RCI-B.TO) is higher by 0.51 percent.

The Capped Industrials Index is gaining 0.27 percent. Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) is up 0.09 percent and Air Canada (AC.TO) is climbing 0.98 percent. AutoCanada (ACQ.TO) is rising 0.14 percent and Finning International (FTT.TO) is increasing 0.17 percent.

TMX Group (X.TO) said it has not been removed from the S&P/TSX Index. The stock is now down 0.46 percent.

On the economic front, Eurozone construction output growth improved strongly in July, marking a second month of growth after a three months of decline, preliminary data from Eurostat showed Monday. Construction output increased a calendar-adjusted 3.1 percent year-on-year following 0.6 percent growth in June. The latest gain was the strongest since February, when output rose 3.6 percent.

The euro area current account surplus declined notably in July from a month ago, the European Central Bank reported Monday. The seasonally and working-day-adjusted current account surplus fell to EUR 21.0 billion in July from EUR 29.5 billion in June, which was revised down from EUR 28.2 billion surplus reported earlier.

The average asking price for a house in the United Kingdom was up 0.7 percent on month in September, property tracking website Rightmove said on Monday - coming in at 306,499 pounds. That follows the 1.2 percent contraction in August.

With homebuilders seeing more serious buyers amid rising household incomes, the National Association of Home Builders released a report on Monday showing a jump in U.S. homebuilder confidence in the month of September.

The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index surged up to 65 in September from a downwardly revised 59 in August. Economists had expected the index to come in unchanged compared to the 60 originally reported for the previous month.

In commodities, crude oil futures for October delivery are up 0.57 or 1.32 percent at $43.60 a barrel.

Natural gas for October is down 0.029 or 0.98 percent at $2.919 per million btu.

Gold futures for December are up $8.10 or 0.62 percent at $1,318.30 an ounce.

Silver for December is up $0.453 or 2.40 percent at $19.315 an ounce.