TSX Ends Nearly 1% Up; Metal, Energy Stocks Rally

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks turned in a fine performance on Monday as investors looked past concerns about trade war, and chose to focus on upcoming central bank meetings and economic data.

The Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank, are all scheduled to announce their monetary policies this week.

Energy and materials shares moved higher on firm oil and bullion prices. News about China's stimulus plans helped lift optimism about a recovery in the world's second largest economy.

Real estate, healthcare and financials shares were among the other major gainers in the session.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a gain of 231.71 points or 0.94% at 24,785.11.

TerraVest Industries skyrocketed more than 20%. B2Gold Corp climbed nearly 8.5%. K92 Mining gained 6.4%. First Majestic Silver, Storage Vault, Orla Mining, Energy Fuels, Capstone Mining, Ero Copper, Tilray, Hudbay Minerals, New Gold and AtkinsRealis surged 4 to 6%.

MAG Silver, Ivanhoe Mines, Jamieson Wellness, Seabridge Gold, Torex Gold, Athabasca Oil, Bombardier Inc., Sandstorm Gold, Whitecap Resources, Veren, Kinross Gold, Equinox Gold, Brookfield Infrastructure and Iamgold Corp gained 2.5 to 3.4%.

Canadian Natural Resources, Suncor Energy, Imperial Oil and Cenovus Energy also posted solid gains.

Agnico Eagle Mines gained about 1.5%. The company announced that it has agreed to subscribe 4.741 million shares of Collective Mining Ltd., an explorer of metals ore and mines, in a non-brokered private placement at C$11 per share for a total consideration of C$52.161 million.

Algoma Steel, NFI Group, Lundin Gold, Lightspeed Commerce, Mattr Corp., Bausch Health Companies, AltaGas, Baytex Energy Corp and Interfor Corp lost 1 to 4%.

Data from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said housing starts in Canada decreased to 229,000 units in February from 239,000 units in January.