Canadian stocks gain amid ECB rate cut, Greek crisis

Canadian stocks closed higher Thursday after the European Central Bank (ECB) announced a surprise interest rate cut and Greece said it may reverse a decision to hold a referendum on the eurozone bailout plan. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose up 226.59 points, or 1.85 percent, at 12468.35. The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index rose up 20.40 points, or 1.26 percent, at 1642.44. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Thursday offered talks with the opposition to resolve the country's political crisis and softened his position on a referendum plan on the bailout package. In a surprise move, the ECB cut its interest rate by 25 percentage points to 1.25 percent as ECB President Mario Draghi said the eurozone could slip into a "mild recession" in the latter part of 2011. Copper reversed earlier losses to gain on the New York Mercantile Exchange while the index measuring the diversified metals and the mining sector on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) climbed 2.9 percent. The index measuring the energy sector on the TSX advanced 3.71 percent. Suncor Energy Inc. surged 4.44 percent after reporting earnings of 1.28 billion dollars or 82 cents a share in the third quarter. On the currency front, the Canadian dollar gained against its U. S. counterpart. One U.S. dollar was buying 1.007 Canadian dollars at 5 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) on Thursday, compared with one U.S. dollar purchasing 1.0139 Canadian dollars on Wednesday.