Canadian Stocks Extend Rally On Yellen Speech -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks rallied on Tuesday, extending a week-long win streak on assurances from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen that she would press to for ultra-easy monetary policy.

In her first public remarks since taking the top job at the Fed, Yellen told Congress that the central bank plans to only gradually reduce the size of its $65 billion per month asset buying plan.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index jumped 86.81 points to 13,880.99, bolstered by gains in all sectors.

The Gold Index was up more than 3 percent for a second straight day, led by Kinross (K.TO) and Yamana (YRI.TO).

Financials also gained, with Manulife (MFC.TO) picking up 2.3 percent. U.S. gold futures have risen to a their highest since November, nearing $1300 an ounce.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude for March was flat at $100 a barrel, but energy shares managed modest gains.

Longview Oil Corp (LNV.TO) said it has received an unsolicited takeover offer from an unidentified public oil and gas company. Longview shares added 3 percent.

In other corporate news, the executive in charge of BlackBerry's (BB.TO) instant-messaging tool, BBM, has left the company. The stock was down 1.4 percent.

Cineplex Inc. (CGX.TO) had $20.2 million of net income or 32 cents per share, well below estimates of 48 cents. Cineplex slipped 1.3 percent.

Aviation training company CAE Inc. (CAE, CAE.TO) said that its third-quarter net income increased to C$46.1 million or C$0.18 per share from C$37.5 million or C$0.14 per share last year. The stock rose 3.5 percent.