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Toronto stocks jump 2.3 pct.
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November 23, 1998: 12:18 p.m. ET
Exchange rises on back of merger-inspired financial stocks rally
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - With merger mania erupting in North American markets, an impressive rally in blue-chip banking issues pushed Toronto stocks more than 2 percent higher Monday.
The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 Composite index jumped 150.54 points, or 2.31 percent, to close at 6,672.80. The bellwether index has not seen these levels since early August.
Heavily weighted bank shares gained across the board, sending the financial services index up 6.55 percent.
"I think that the focus on the banking stocks is going to remain," said Subodh Kumar, market strategist at CIBC Wood Gundy Inc.
"Confidence has come back into global markets after the (Federal Reserve) cut rates. What you've really seen is banking stocks around the world going up, including those in Japan. So it's a global recovery in banking stocks and technology."
Other gaining sectors included consumer products, which rose 2.6 percent, and communications and media stocks, which climbed 2.24 percent.
Indeed, only two sectors bucked the negative trend: oil and gas stocks shed 0.88 percent, and the metals and minerals group trimmed 0.15 percent.
Volume leaders were dominated by the banking sector, and among individual issues Canadian Imperial Bank leapt C$2.95, or 8.37 percent, to C$38.20. Toronto-Dominion Bank wasn't far behind, rising C$4.20, or 8.33 percent, to C$54.60. And Bank Nova Scotia added a sizeable C$2.60, or 7.72 percent, to close at C$36.30.
Another of the most-actively traded stocks included Philip Services, which rose C$0.24, or 28.92 percent, to C$1.07 after the scrap company reached a deal with U.S. financier Carl Icahn that will allow it to work its way out from under its heavy debtload.
Elsewhere in the country, stocks in Montreal soared 120.59 points, or 3.59 percent, to close at 3,475.54. Vancouver shares were not so fortunate. They fell 2.59 points, or 0.65 percent, to 393.29. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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