Canadian stocks extend gains over Fed's comment, resources rally

Canada's main stock market Wednesday advanced for a fifth straight day over U.S. Federal Reserve's comment and resources shares gains driven by a rally in commodities prices.
Canada's benchmark stock index, the Toronto Stock Exchange's S& P/TSX composite index, increased 84.78 points or 0.55 percent to 15,561.95 points on Wednesday, following a triple-digit hike Tuesday.
Investors' speculation about Fed's next move calmed down Wednesday as the Fed's comment was in line with economists' expectation, when the U.S. central bank indicated that its policy will remain accommodative but may lift interest rates sooner depending on the economy's rebound.
The eight major sectors were in the green across the board, when higher commodities prices helped push up the TSX.
The mining sector led the gainers by rebounding 1.99 percent from Tuesday's dip, after many giant miners regained ground as the base metal prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) all closed higher on Wednesday.
The Canadian copper producers Teck Resources hiked 2.04 percent to 25.50 Canadian dollars (about 23.24 U.S. dollars), and First Quantum Minerals Ltd. jumped 3.22 percent to 25.02 Canadian dollars, when the three-month unofficial copper price increased 104 U.S. dollars, or 1.51 percent, to 6,983 U.S. dollars per tonne.
Meanwhile, the energy sector, another resources group, rose 0.7 percent with the Calgary-based oil company Crew Energy Inc. soaring 3.92 percent to 10.33 Canadian dollars, after the light, sweet crude price for September delivery closed up 1.59 U.S. dollars to 96.07 U.S. dollars per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Industrials climbed 1.07 percent when Statistics Canada said Wednesday that wholesale sales in Canada advanced in June at a faster-than-expected pace on robust sales of agricultural supplies and building materials. And month-over-month wholesale trade rose 0.6 percent to 53.01 billion Canadian dollars.
The quick service food provider MTY Food Group Inc. increased 2. 04 percent to 32.99 Canadian dollars, and the household furniture trader Dorel Industries Inc. grew 2.54 percent to 36.4 Canadian dollars per share.
On the currency front, following a cautious tone in trading ahead of Fed's minutes on Wednesday, the Canadian dollar failed to gain momentum against U.S. dollar and moved down to 0.9115 U.S. dollar, compared with 0.9138 U.S. dollar on Tuesday.