Canadian stock market rises on Fed easing, China reforms

This Friday witnessed a big hike of the Canadian stock market that pushed the stock index to a two-year peak. The S&P/TSX composite index went up 51.18 points or 0.38 percent to close at 13482.56 points, a two-year high. The Canadian stock market continued to move upwards on the optimism surrounding a sweeping economic reform plan by the Chinese government and confidence that the Federal Reserve won't likely be cutting stimulus as early as thought. Besides, the favored manufacturing sales data of Canada in September also brought the momentum to the benchmark index for the Toronto market. Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing sales rose 0.6 percent to 49.9 billion Canadian dollars in September, the fourth increase in five months. The gain in September was largely a result of higher sales in the motor vehicle assembly and food industries. Total sales in September were at their highest level since June 2012. Almost all eight sectors on the main index were higher on Friday. Energy sector increased 0.99 percent, which was the highest hike in the main sectors, with Sirocco Mining Inc. gaining 102.56 percent, and the solar-power LED lighting maker, Carmanah Technologies Corporation increasing by 100 percent. EnCana Corp. rose to 19.34 Canadian dollars per share by 1.68 percent. Telecom shares were up 0.84 percent, health care sector moved up 0.71 percent, and financial sector rose up to 231.03 points by 0.38 percent. There were also concerns about the assets bubble, which may exert the negative influence on the Canadian stock market. With the New York market up 24 percent this year, there are concerns the Fed' s quantitative easing program is causing a stock market bubble, according to the report from Canadian CBC news. Canada' s currency appreciated 0.2 percent to 1.0439 Canadian dollars per U.S. dollar at 5 p.m. in Toronto. It gained 0.4 percent this week.