Canada Stocks Rise as Materials Producers Rally on Growth Bets

Canadian stocks rose for a fifth day, the longest winning streak since May, as a rally among miners on speculation that economic growth will spur commodity demand overshadowed a drop among energy producers.

Detour Gold Corp. and Alacer Gold (ASR) Corp. each added at least 6.8 percent to pace advances among producers of raw materials. Maple Leaf Foods Inc. jumped 10 percent as the company said it might sell its 90 percent stake in Canada Bread Co. Athabasca Oil Co. slid 2.9 percent to the lowest since May to pace declines among energy producers.

The Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index rose 50.44 points, or 0.4 percent, to 13,186.53 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. Trading was 9.5 percent above the 30-day average.

"If you have global growth, companies can make longer-term decisions, which means expansion in production and employment, and therefore everyone's using more commodities," Paul Gardner, portfolio manager at Avenue Investment Management, said in a phone interview from Toronto. He helps manage C$300 million ($290 million). "If you have an economy back on track in the U.S., you will have normalized GDP growth, and that's better for commodities."

The benchmark Canadian equity gauge has rallied 2.3 percent in the past five sessions, giving it the longest string of gains streak since May that left the index at the highest level in more than two years.

Economic Growth

U.S. equities jumped to a record last week after lawmakers ended a 16-day partial government shutdown and reached a debt agreement that averted a default. Data from China showed economic growth accelerated for the first time in three quarters, with gross domestic product gaining 7.8 percent in the third quarter. China and the U.S. are the biggest consumers of commodities and Canada's largest trading partners.

The S&P/TSX Materials Index jumped 1.6 percent today, the most among 10 groups in the benchmark gauge. Gold producers rallied, as the metal's price advanced for the third time in four days in New York. Speculation that the Federal Reserve would delay tapering monthly bond buying boosted gold's appeal as a store of value.

Detour Gold rose 8.9 percent to C$8.08 and Alacer Gold added 6.8 percent to C$2.98.

Endeavour Silver Corp. gained 4.8 percent to C$4.60 as the price of the metal for December delivery jumped 1.7 percent.

Maple Leaf Foods, the Toronto-based maker of meats and packaged goods, surged 10 percent to C$14.63 for the biggest gain in 13 years. The company said it is considering selling its 90 percent stake in Canada Bread.

Bombardier Gains

Bombardier Inc. jumped 4.3 percent to C$5.30, a two-year high, after the world's third-largest airplane maker said it received 30 new firm orders for its Learjet 85 aircraft from Flexjet LLC.

Montreal-based Bombardier's share price has risen for four straight sessions amid optimism that the company's agreement to sell as many as 30 CSeries aircraft to a Chinese leasing company may prompt fresh deals with customers from the Asian nation.

Energy companies slid 0.1 percent as a group, halting a three-day advance, as the price of crude for November delivery dropped 1.6 percent. Inventories increased to the highest level in three months in the U.S., the world's biggest oil-consuming country.

Athabasca Oil fell 2.9 percent to C$6.09 for its fifth straight drop. The oil-sands developer that began publicly trading in 2010 plunged last week following an Alberta court's decision to allow an aboriginal group to appeal the provincial regulator's approval of the company's Dover project.

Atlantic Power Corp. dropped 5 percent to C$5.16 after the company was downgraded to underperform from neutral at Macquarie Group Ltd.