Canadian Stocks Settle At 5-year Peak -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks jumped to their highest in more than five years on Wednesday amid significant merger news in the mining sector.

Hopes of Chinese stimulus and a European Central Bank rate cut also kept investors in the game ahead of this week's crucial U.S. jobs report for March.

At last check, the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 83.42 points, or 0.58 percent, at 14,463.97.

Osisko Mining Corporation (OSK.TO) rose 8 percent after the company announced it has entered into a friendly agreement with Yamana Gold Inc. (YRI.TO).

Yamana will acquire a 50 percent interest in Osisko's mining and exploration assets. Shares of Yamana Gold Inc. (YRI.TO) fell 1.8 percent.

The deal allows Osisko to avoid a hostile takeover attempt by Goldcorp (G.TO), whose share rose 2.3 percent.

BlackBerry Ltd. (BB.TO) announced late Tuesday that it is ending its licensing agreement with T-Mobile Inc.when it expires on April 25. The stock was up 1.7 percent.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.(CNQ.TO) shares were up 1.7 percent. The company has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Devon Energy Corp.'s (DVN) Canadian conventional assets, excluding Horn River and the heavy oil properties, for C$3.125 billion.

ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. (PLI.TO) gained 4.8 percent after the company announced that it had a successful Pre-Investigational New Drug or Pre-IND meeting with the US Food and Drug Administration for a plasma-derived biopharmaceutical currently under development under the NantPro, LLC joint venture.

Agrium Inc. (AGU.TO) slipped 1 percent as the company expects its first-quarter earnings per share to be just above breakeven.

In economic news from the U.S., employment in the U.S. private sector showed a notable increase in the month of March, according to a report released by payroll processor ADP on Wednesday, with the report also showing a substantial upward revision to the job growth in the previous month.

ADP said private sector employment increased by 191,000 jobs in March following an upwardly revised increase of 178,000 jobs in February.

A report from the U.S. Commerce Department said factory orders rose by a more than expected 1.6 percent in February following a revised 1.0 percent decrease in January. Economists had expected orders to rise by about 1.2 percent compared to the 0.7 percent drop originally reported for the previous month.