A man passes by a Couche Tard convenience store in Montreal, in this file photo.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
The Toronto stock market advanced Tuesday amid stronger than expected showings in Canadian retail sales and U.S. economic growth.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 43.68 points to 15,059.09 as Statistics Canada reported that retail sales rose by a better than expected 0.8 per cent during September, led by a strong showing in auto sales. Economists had expected a rise of 0.5 per cent.
The loonie was ahead 0.13 of a cent to 88.71 cents (U.S.).
The rise in the Canadian dollar also came in the wake of a report from a major international organization that forecasts the Bank of Canada will begin hiking its key interest rate as soon as May 2015 – months ahead of what economists have been predicting.
The Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said that inflation will return to the central bank's two per cent target on "a sustained basis by late 2015." It also says the Bank of Canada's key rate, currently at one per cent, will rise steadily after the May increase.
And in the U.S., data showed the economy expanded at a faster than expected annualized pace of 3.9 per cent during the third quarter. Economists had forecast that this first revision to GDP would show growth slipped from 3.5 per cent to 3.3 per cent.
U.S. indexes registered minor gains with the Dow Jones industrials ahead 3.21 points to 17,821.11, the Nasdaq climbed 13.18 points to 4,768.07 and the S&P 500 index was ahead 1.67 points to 2,071.08.
The TSX energy sector drifted lower, down 0.15 per cent ahead of a key meeting Thursday by the OPEC oil cartel. Prices have been hit hard since mid-summer, pressured by a rising greenback that has depressed all commodities priced in U.S. dollars, lower demand and rising crude supplies. Prices had risen as high as about $105 (U.S.) a barrel during a period of heightened geopolitical worries, including the possibility that Islamic State militants could seize chunks of Iraq's oil infrastructure.
The focus is now on OPEC to see if it will cut production in order to support prices.
On Tuesday, the January crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 35 cents to $76.13 a barrel and the energy sector dipped 0.15 per cent.
Elsewhere on the commodity markets, the base metals component gained 0.8 per cent as December copper edged a cent lower to $2.99 a pound.
The gold sector gained 0.85 per cent while December gold gained 30 cents to $1,196 an ounce.
The consumer staples sector led advancers, up 1.15 per cent as Quebec-based convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard said its net income surged 25 per cent to $286.4-million in the second quarter despite a dip in revenues to $8.9-billion. Profits excluding one-time charges were $313-million or 55 cents per share, one cent below analyst expectations but its shares ran ahead $1.01 to $39.19.
Elsewhere in the retail space, Reitmans Canada Ltd. is shutting down its Smart Set banner over the next 12 to 18 months. Reitmans says the decision will help it "refocus its sales and merchandising efforts" and improve the company's overall results. Smart Set represents about 10 per cent of the Montreal-based company's annual sales, which were approximately $96-million (Canadian) for the year ended Feb. 1. Its shares were unchanged at $6.15.