Although the Royal Bank (TSX:RY) didn’t put in the biggest return in today’s Canadian market, because of its hefty weight, its shares were the biggest driver. Shares of Canada’s biggest bank jumped 2.7% on the day to help the S&P/TSX Composite (TSX:^GSPTSE) register a 129 point or 1.0% gain. This move higher by the Canadian market flew in the face of a decline in gold, silver, and oil prices. A rarity.
Even more rare was that two of today’s other big contributors, Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ) and Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX) also shrugged off the decline in their respective commodities as both stocks climbed by more than 4% on the day.
Contributing the biggest drag on today’s market was Valeant Pharmaceuticals (TSX:VRX) which was down 3.6%. Several weeks ago it was rumoured that Valeant was in pursuit of Actavis Inc. Actavis just announced an $8.5 billion deal to acquire Warner Chilcott, indicating a deal with Valeant is unlikely to be consummated. Those playing Valeant for its roll-up strategy were likely put off by this announcement.
Once again resource and financial stocks dictated the Canadian market’s performance. Because of their heavy-weights in the TSX, these sectors can be lethal for investors that think they are protected with an index fund or ETF linked to the S&P/TSX Composite Index.
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Fool contributor Iain Butler owns shares in Barrick Gold. The Motley Fool doesn’t own shares in any of the companies mentioned.
