Mining, Banks Drive TSX To New Record Highs -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - The Toronto stock market scaled a new peak Wednesday morning as investors reacted positively to the U.S. payrolls report.

Mining, information technology, financial and industrial stocks are moving higher.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 50 points to a new all-time high of 15,197.36, surpassing its previous best of 15,154.77, recorded in 2008.

Among diversified metals, First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (FM.TO), Teck Resources Limited (TCK.B.TO), Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. (TRQ.TO) and Capstone Mining Corp. (CS.TO) are moving up 1.5 to 2 percent. HudBay Minerals Inc. (HBM.TO) and Sherritt International Corporation (S.TO) are also notably higher.

In the technology space, BlackBerry Limited (BB.TO) is rising over 5.5 percent. CGI Group Inc. (GIB.A.TO), Open Text Corporation (OTC.TO), Constellation Software Inc. (CSU.TO), Celestica Inc. (CLS.TO) and Avigilon Corporation (AVO.TO) are advancing 1.5 to 2.5 percent.

The big six banks are up in positive territory, gaining 0.3 to 0.7 percent.

Industrial major CAE, Inc. (CAE.TO) announced that it has won a series of contracts worth about C$110 million to provide a range of training systems and services for global defense customers. The stock is adding 0.3 percent.

Bombardier (BBD.B.TO) is up 0.5 percent. The company announced Monday that Bombardier Aerospace has received a firm order for 16 CRJ900 NextGen regional jets, with an option on eight others. The value of the firm order is about US$727 million, although the contract could increase to US$1.12 billion if all options are exercised by the customer.

Among other stocks in the industrial space, Canadian National Railway Company (CNR.TO), Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (CP.TO), SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. (SNC.TO) and MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA.TO) are up 0.4 to 1 percent.

Energy stocks Bellatrix Exploration (BXE.TO) and Athabasca Oil Corporation (ATH.TO) are rising 2.2 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, Suncor Energy (SU.TO) is adding 1 percent.

Pattern Energy Group Inc. (PEG.TO) Wednesday said it acquired 172 megawatts or MW of owned interest in the 218 MW Panhandle 1 wind project from Pattern Energy Group LP for $124.4 million in cash. The balance of the project has been bought from Pattern Development by three institutional tax equity investors. The stock is yet to be traded this morning.

In commodities, crude oil futures for August are down $0.73 or 0.70 percent at $104.61 a barrel.

Natural gas for August is down $0.087 or 1.96 percent at $4.368 per million btu.

Gold futures for August are up $1.90 or 0.14 percent at $1,328.50 an ounce.

Silver for September is up $0.106 or 0.50 percent at $21.223 an ounce. Meanwhile, copper is up $0.032 or 0.99 percent at $3.236 per pound.

In the currency market, the Canadian loonie is trading at 1.0662 against the U.S. dollar, down 0.29 percent from previous close.

On the economic front, a report from ADP showed private-sector hiring in the U.S. to have picked up in June, with employers adding 281,000 jobs. The consensus estimate called for an addition of 213,000 jobs following additions of 179,000 jobs in May.

Meanwhile, data released by the U.S. Commerce Department showed factory orders to have declined by a larger than expected 0.5 percent in May. Economists expected a 0.3 percent drop in orders following a 0.7 percent increase in the previous month.

Investors will now be looking ahead to U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's speech on the monetary policy to the IMF central banking conference in Washington at 11 am ET.