Toronto stock market climbs on higher crude

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 41.62 points, or 0.28 percent at 14,842.85, shortly after the open.

December gold fell $3.20 to US$1341.10 an ounce and September copper contracts rose a penny to US$2.16 a pound.

Oil ministers from the 14-nation members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are set to have an “informal” gathering in Algeria in September.

“It’s a little premature to suggest that that meeting is going to mark the turnaround in the oil markets”.

Crude prices slid after a report showed a bigger than expected increase in US stockpiles last week.

“Yes, valuations are a concern for us, but we do think the earnings do justify them now and more of our valuation concern is in the fixed income market”, said Macan Nia, a director of capital markets and strategy at Manulife Investments.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) declined 0.2 per cent to finish at 18,495.66 points and the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 0.29 per cent, to 2,175.49 points. Both indices had smashed through record-highs on Friday as the U.S. Labor Department added 255,000 jobs in July, beating out expectations.

The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 1.2 per cent, as prices for a string of metals rose as a weaker US dollar supported.

Total U.S. crude inventories were expected to fall by 1 million barrels in weekly reports, although market intelligence firm Genscape has reported a rise of more than 307,000 barrels at the Cushing, Oklahoma U.S. crude delivery hub, traders said.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story.