(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) Canadian shares rose on the first day of trading of 2015 as commodities producers rallied with the the prices of gold and the U.S. oil benchmark. The benchmark Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index (TSE:OSPTX) rose 0.6 percent to 14722.81 at 12:35 p.m. in Toronto. More than two shares advanced for every stock that declined as seven out of the ten major industries were up. The 250-company gauge gained 7.4 percent in 2014.
The materials sub-index which includes mining shares advanced 1.8 percent as gold futures rallied from a four-week low. (TSE:ABX) gained 1.5 percent to C$12.70. (TSE:G) rose 1.2 percent to C$21.76.
Gold futures for February delivery gained 0.3 percent to $1188 an ounce at 11:17 a.m. on the Comex in New York. Bullion rebounded as U.S. equities declined boosting demand for the metal as an alternative investment. Gold lost 1.6 percent in 2014.
The energy sector the main index's second most heavily weighted group rose 1.6 percent even as West Texas Intermediate advanced. Energy (TSE:SU) Canada's largest oil sands producer gained 1.5 percent to C$37.47. () the country's second-largest oil and gas company gained 1.4 percent to C$36.42.
WTI for February delivery rose 0.6 percent to $53.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after dropping to $52.03 the least since May 1 2009.
Financials the index's most heavily weighted sector slid 0.4 percent. () which has the heaviest weighting in the index was up 0.1 percent at C$80.34. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD) the second-largest bank by market value slipped 0.9 percent to C$54.98.
(TSE:GUD) edged up 0.6 percent to C$6.96 after the Canadian specialty pharmaceutical company entered a strategic partnership with NeurAxon Inc. a clinical stage research company for the commercialization of certain of that company’s products in Canada Israel South Africa and Russia. Knight will pay about C$1.75 million cash and provide further development funding.
() a maker of hydrogen fuel cells dipped 8.9 percent to C$2.16 after it ended two license pacts in the Chinese market with Azure Hydrogen due to “material breaches” and said it will consider legal remedies.
The junior () added 0.6 percent to 699.34 at 12:20 p.m. in Toronto. The 404-company measure where energy and materials producers account for approximately 70 percent of its weighting fell 25 percent in 2014.
In the U.S. market shares declined amid data showing manufacturing grew less than expected. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) fell 0.3 percent at 11:48 a.m. The 30-company Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) slipped 0.2 percent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) fell 0.6 percent. Most followed shares included Harvest Natural General Motors Perfect World and .
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