Resource Companies Dominating Today’s Move Up

An encouraging Chinese inflation release has Canadian investors seeing green.

Iain Butler

Chief Investment Advisor, Motley Fool Canada Fool since November 2012 Iain Butler is Lead Advisor for Stock Advisor Canada. He is also the Chief Investment Advisor for Motley Fool Canada. Before joining the Fool, Iain was a “buy-side” analyst and through this experience is well-versed in the idiosyncratic ways of the Canadian market. His investing interests are centred on scouring the market for interesting businesses that trade at reasonable prices and offer an appealing risk/reward relationship. Since joining the Fool in 2012, Iain dedicates each day to spreading Foolishness throughout this great country!

Published April 9, 2013 3:56 pm EDT

Closing in on the end of trading, the S&P/TSX Composite is poised to have its best day in sometime. The Canadian market sits up 141 points for a 1.2% gain.

Four of the top five contributors on the day are resource oriented companies. Most names in the Energy and Materials space are benefitting from a Chinese report that indicated inflation was lower than expected. Muted inflation numbers mean Chinese officials face less pressure to introduce credit tightening policies to slow the economy. Build on China, build on!

Checking in with a return on the day of more than 3%, Suncor Energy (TSX:SU,NYSE:SU) is currently today’s top contributor. Suncor’s peer Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ,NYSE:CNQ) can also be found in the top 5 as both have benefitted from a move higher in the price of oil. The price of the May WTI oil contract has moved ahead by $0.82 and stands at $94.19. This 0.9% move up however is considerably lower than the 1.6% move that Brent crude has had on the day.

The other two resource names that are part of today’s top 5 are Goldcorp (TSX:G,NYSE:GG) and Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B,NYSE:TCK), up 3.3% and 4.9% respectively. The spot price of gold has made a strong move, up $13.50 or 0.8%, and Teck’s diversified stable of metals caught a bid on the Chinese inflation release.

The Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY,NYSE:RY) is the non-resource company that rounds out the top 5. Royal’s shares are up 1.2% on the day.

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Fool contributor Iain Butler is short $32 July 2013 put options on Goldcorp, short $26 August 2013 put options on Teck Resources, and owns Teck shares outright as well. The Motley Fool has no positions in the stocks mentioned above.