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CANADA STOCKS-TSX ends barely higher, industrial stocks led gains

Published 2016-12-21, 04:41 p/m
© Reuters.  CANADA STOCKS-TSX ends barely higher, industrial stocks led gains
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(Adds portfolio manager comment, Brookfield deal, Trudeau comments, updates prices to close)

* TSX ends up 12.93 points, or 0.08 percent, at 15,305.89

* Six of the TSX's 10 main groups move higher

By Alastair Sharp

TORONTO, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index edged higher on Wednesday for the fifth consecutive session, helped by industrial stocks such as construction company SNC-Lavalin SNC.TO , which jumped after winning an oil sands service contract.

SNC-Lavalin rose 2.5 percent to C$58.55. It said a subsidiary was part of a joint venture that won a five-year deal to supply engineering and procurement services to an unidentified "prominent integrated oil company" in Alberta's Athabasca region. industrial sector gained 0.6 percent overall, with Waste Connections Inc WCN.TO up 2.1 percent at C$105.89 and Canadian National Railway Co CNR.TO adding 0.5 percent to C$91.16.

"On the industrial theme, recent economic data in U.S. has supported that idea that the economy is picking up some steam," said Manash Goswami, portfolio manager at First Asset Investment Management Inc.

"We've become a bit more constructive of late and have added a little more cyclical exposure than we've had in the past," he said.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE ended the day up 12.93 points, or 0.08 percent, at 15,305.89.

Six of the index's 10 main groups were in positive territory, while advancers outnumbered decliners by a 1.3-to-1 ratio.

Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd FFH.TO advanced 4.9 percent to C$666, while the broader financial sector barely gained.

Fairfax said on Sunday it had agreed to buy Swiss insurer Allied World for $4.9 billion in cash and stock. Asset Management Inc BAMa.TO slipped 0.7 percent to C$44.72. The company is close to a deal to buy a majority stake in a $5 billion natural gas pipeline project in Peru, that country's finance minister said. energy group climbed 0.6 percent, with pipeline company TransCanada Corp TRP.TO up 0.8 percent at C$61.85.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump was "very supportive" of TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline in their first conversation after the U.S. election. the heaviest weight in the index was the world's largest gold producer, Barrick Gold Corp ABX.TO , which fell 1.2 percent to C$18.95. TD Securities cut its call on the stock to hold from buy and lowered its price target to $18 from $25.

Gold prices steadied above last week's 10-1/2-month low. GOL/

Label and packaging maker CCL Industries Inc pulled back 1.8 percent to C$266.25 a day after jumping sharply on its plan to buy Innovia Group, which supplies the new UK plastic five-pound note, for around C$1.13 billion.

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