Canada’s stocks benchmark climbed Friday morning after Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled a new pipeline project to the country’s West Coast.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed one per cent at 10:28 a.m. in Toronto and enjoying broad-based gains with seven stocks in the gauge rising for every one that is falling. All 11 sectors of the market climbed on Friday morning. United States cash markets are closed Friday for the Fourth of July holiday.
The gains come after Carney tapped Trans Mountain Corp. , a pipeline operator owned by the Canadian government, to build a new one-million-barrel-a-day pipeline connecting Alberta’s oil sands to a Vancouver-area port. The government will also consider it for a quickened regulatory approval.
“This is fast, for Canada!” Derek Holt, Scotiabank vice-president and head of capital markets economics, wrote in a Friday note of the megaprojects announcements. “By comparison to Canada’s past, it’s feasible that the country is moving from a dithering, glacial pace of securing new investments toward something more in keeping with the needs of our times.”
The top-performing stock in the Toronto benchmark Friday morning was GFL Environmental, climbing sharply as the company is considering a take-private transaction. Other notable movers include Aecon Group, rising after Raymond James upgraded the stock on a data-centre contract.