By Catherine Carlock, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Canadian stocks posted gains Thursday, receiving support from financials and materials stocks, after seesawing for much of the session.
Toronto's S&P/TSX Composite Index /quotes/comstock/11t!i:isptx (CA:$ISPTX 12,100, -2.28, -0.02%) added 32 points, or 0.3%, to close at 11,729.
The financial sector held the line on slim gains. Shares of Manulife Financial Corp. /quotes/comstock/11t!e:mfc (CA:MFC 12.96, -0.03, -0.23%) /quotes/comstock/13*!mfc/quotes/nls/mfc (MFC 12.50, +0.09, +0.73%) added 4.3% in Toronto and 4.8% in New York. Sun Life Financial Inc. /quotes/comstock/11t!e:slf (CA:SLF 27.51, +0.19, +0.70%) /quotes/comstock/13*!slf/quotes/nls/slf (SLF 26.50, +0.54, +2.08%) rose 3.5% in Toronto and added 3.8% on Wall Street.
Their shares rallied after the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, Canada's life insurance regulator, clarified capital rules for the sector. OFSI made clear that they "weren't going to be extremely onerous with respect to modifying capital requirements," said Tom MacKinnon, a BMO Capital Markets equity research analyst.
The materials sector also bolstered Canadian markets, as major resources companies, such as Barrick Gold Corp., Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan and Suncor Energy Inc. reported strong quarterly earnings early Thursday.
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Barrick /quotes/comstock/11t!e:abx (CA:ABX 47.48, -0.45, -0.94%) , the world's largest gold producer, reported a 59% jump in second-quarter profit early Thursday. Barrick's shares rose 0.9%.
The company said second-quarter net income was $783 million, or 79 cents a share, up from $492 million, or 56 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Quarterly revenue rose to $2.64 billion from $1.96 billion.
Potash Corp. /quotes/comstock/11t!pot (CA:POT 156.09, -0.50, -0.32%) /quotes/comstock/13*!pot/quotes/nls/pot (POT 150.83, +1.34, +0.90%) shares gained 4.6% in Toronto and 5.2% in New York, as the company reported profit more than doubled in the second quarter.
Potash Corp., the world's largest fertilizer producer by capacity, had net income of $472 million, or $1.55 a share, up from $186.2 million, or 61 cents, earned in the year-ago second quarter. Revenue rose to $1.44 billion from $856 billion a year ago.
Meanwhile, the energy sector, which had rallied earlier in the session, fell in midday trade and never recouped its losses. Cenovus Energy Inc. /quotes/comstock/11t!cve (CA:CVE 29.22, +0.20, +0.69%) led percentage decliners with a 4.8% drop.
Oil-sands company Cenovus on Thursday reported second-quarter net income of C$172 million, or 23 Canadian cents a share, up from C$160 million, or 21 Canadian cents a share, a year ago. Quarterly revenue rose to $3.32 billion from $2.87 billion a year ago.
Suncor /quotes/comstock/11t!e:su (CA:SU 33.38, -0.09, -0.27%) /quotes/comstock/13*!su/quotes/nls/su (SU 32.18, +0.25, +0.78%) shares rose 2.6% in Toronto and 2.9% in New York after the Calgary-based oil and natural-gas company swung to profit for the second quarter. Suncor reported a net income of C$480 million, or 31 Canadian cents a share, up from a loss of C$51 million, or 6 Canadian cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue also rose to C$9.37 billion from C$4.77 billion.
Crude-oil futures reversed higher Thursday, adding $1.37, or 1.8%, to $78.36 a barrel in New York. Read more on oil prices.
Gold for August delivery ended higher for the second straight session, adding $8.00, or 0.7%, to $1,168.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Read about metals stocks.
In currency dealings, the Canadian dollar rose against its U.S. counterpart, with one greenback purchasing C$1.0350, down from C$1.0384 Wednesday.
Catherine Carlock is a San Francisco-based reporter for MarketWatch.
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