(New throughout, updates prices and market activity to close,
adds analyst comment)
* TSX ends up 51.16 points, or 0.38 percent, at 13,596
* Six of the TSX's 10 main groups rose
By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Gains among banking and telecom
stocks helped lift Canada's main stock index on Thursday, while
a modest bump in the price of crude oil was not enough to lure
investors back into the country's struggling energy sector.
Investor sentiment got a slight boost from data showing
healthy growth in exports for a second straight month in July,
although caution remains the underlying theme following last
week's confirmation of a mild recession in the first half.
"People are picking away where they see some interesting
opportunities outside energy, but otherwise there's a lot of
playing around going on," said Brian Pow, an equity analyst at
Acumen Capital Partners in Calgary.
He said the consensus view on when a recovery could take
hold in the energy industry has pushed out to the middle to the
end of next year.
The most influential movers included its biggest telecom
companies, with BCE Inc BCE.TO rising 1.9 percent to C$53.85,
Telus Corp T.TO advancing 1.8 percent to C$43.16, and Rogers
Communications Inc RCIb.TO adding 2.5 percent to C$44.70.
The financials group, the index's most influential, climbed
0.7 percent, with Royal Bank of Canada RY.TO up 0.9 percent to
C$71.95, Bank of Nova Scotia BNS.TO advancing 1.1 percent to
C$59.05, and Toronto-Dominion Bank TD.TO gaining 0.8 percent
to C$51.79.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
.GSPTSE ended up 51.16 points, or 0.38 percent, at 13,596.
"People might be reading through the technical recession ...
and some of that positivity is showing itself in the market
today," said Bryden Teich, associate portfolio manager at Avenue
Investment Management.
Oil rose early on a pledge by the European Central Bank to
keep monetary policy loose, but prices faded and ended with just
a modest gain. O/R
Teich said uncertainty and volatility will likely remain for
now, as worries over China's economy, what the Federal Reserve
will decide at its next meeting later this month, and Friday's
U.S. and Canadian employment figures remain in focus.
"A lot of it will come down to what the Fed does when they
make their decision in a couple of weeks. There's a lot of
uncertainty," said Teich.
On the earnings front, Sears Canada SCC.TO shares jumped
4.7 percent to C$8.87 after the struggling retailer posted a
smaller operating loss and the slowest decline in comparable
stores sales in six quarters. ID:nL4N1183KF
Resources stocks weighed, with Barrick Gold Corp ABX.TO
off 3.9 percent to C$8.53 and Canadian Oil Sands COS.TO
declining 4.7 percent to C$6.46.