(Adds portfolio manager comment, details; updates prices to
close)
* TSX ends up 64.02 points, or 0.47 percent, at 13,561.09
* All 10 of the TSX's main groups rise
By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, March 21 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index
ended higher on Monday, helped by rising financial and telecom
stocks and by a surge in Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:VRX) International
Inc VRX.TO after it parted ways with its CEO and invited an
activist investor to its board.
Valeant shares settled up 8.5 percent at C$37.90 after it
said its chief executive, Michael Pearson (LON:PSON), would leave and
billionaire investor William Ackman would join its board as it
tries to clean up accounting problems and save its business.
It had traded at a peak nearing C$350 last August.
The heavyweight financials group gained 0.5 percent, with
insurer Manulife Financial Corp MFC.TO up 2.9 percent at
C$19.02. Telecoms added 1 percent overall, with Telus Corp
T.TO adding 1.5 percent to C$41.66 and BCE Inc BCE.TO rising
0.9 percent to C$58.37.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
.GSPTSE closed up 64.02 points, or 0.47 percent, at 13,561.09.
All 10 main sectors gained, as investors cheered an improved
tone that has helped lift the index to highs last seen in
November.
"Oil has improved a little bit here and the extreme
negativity we had going back three or four months ago has waned
a bit and even the Canadian dollar has improved," said Irwin
Michael, portfolio manager at ABC Funds.
Energy stocks were barely higher, with oil prices stable
after touching a 2016 high above $40 a barrel last week. O/R
Michael said trading was subdued ahead of Tuesday's federal
budget, the first from the Liberal government elected in October
on a promise to spend to boost economic growth.
"We don't know what to expect at this point, although we do
know that the deficit we've been forewarned should be C$25-30
billion, with a lot of it should be in infrastructure spending,"
he said.
Canadian National Railway CNR.TO rose 0.8 percent to
C$81.52, and the industrials sector gained 0.6 percent overall,
while utilities added 1.5 percent.
Other influential movers on the index included Bombardier
Inc BBDb.TO , which rose 6.2 percent to C$1.37 while awaiting a
federal government decision on whether to invest in the
struggling planemaker.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals
miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.2 percent.
The healthcare sector, a five-member group including
Valeant, jumped 4.3 percent.