Blue chips buzz Canada
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January 6, 1999: 5:27 p.m. ET
Massive buying from funds boosts Toronto, Montreal stocks by 2 percent
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Heavy buying of big-name stocks pushed the Toronto Stock Exchange up more than 2 percent Wednesday, with institutional traders gobbling blue chips from all sectors.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's key 300 Composite Index ended up 144.80 points, or 2.17 percent, at 6,805.30.
Volume was a healthy 152.3 million shares. Advancers doubled decliners 665 to 376 with another 220 issues unchanged.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 233.78 points into record territory to close at 9,544.97.
All 14 of the TSE 300's subindexes ended positive, led by a 3.71-percent jump in the utilities group, a 3.17-percent hike in the communications sector, and a 2.83-percent climb in the paper and forestry group.
"There's a lot of money going into the blue-chip names, which would indicate buying by a lot of the mutual funds," said Todd Kapala, an investment specialist at Priority Brokerage in Toronto.
Internet auctioneer Bid.com led the buying, skyrocketing 15.13 percent to C$5.25 in massive volume of nearly 10 million shares.
The heavy activity prompted Paul Godin, chairman and CEO, to say, "There has been a very large level of interest in e-commerce stocks recently in the United States and this may be expanding to encompass Bid.com."
However, Godin was unable to provide more concrete reasons for the stock's recent climb.
Air Canada , one of the nation's chief carriers, rallied 9.09 percent to C$6.60 after announcing that it had resumed normal operations following severe weekend storms.
Other volume leaders included telecom heavyweight BCE Inc. , up 4.02 percent at C$63.45, and Northern Telecom Ltd. , up 2.67 percent at C$88.30.
The key financial sector, which makes up a quarter of the TSE 300 by weight, jumped 2.11 percent, with a number of the largest banks outpacing the pack.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce gained 2.71 percent to C$39.80, while Royal Bank of Canada added 2.82 percent to C$80.20.
Bank of Montreal was the sector's big winner, up 4.06 percent at C$66.60.
The Montreal market beat Toronto's gains, up 87.01 points, or 2.51 percent, at 3,555.30 on heavy buying in most big-name stocks.
Standouts included Bank of Montreal and Air Canada, which are traded in both Toronto and Montreal.
The resource-heavy Vancouver market fell back on higher bullion prices for strength, being less strongly populated with blue-chips than larger Canadian markets.
Gold prices pushed 80 cents higher to $288.60 in New York, giving British Columbia miners a lift and sending the Vancouver Composite index up 4.88 points, 1.22 percent, to 403.83.
-- from staff and wire reports
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