Markets Still Moving Higher TSX ends up 61.53 points, or 0.47 percent, at 13,248.06 * Gold miners and banks lead charge to two-year high

* TSX ends up 61.53 points, or 0.47 percent, at 13,248.06
    * Gold miners and banks lead charge to two-year high

    By Alastair Sharp
    TORONTO, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index gained
for a sixth straight session  on Tuesday, led by banks and
mining stocks after weak U.S. jobs data bolstered expectations
that the U.S. Federal Reserve will stick with its monetary
stimulus program for a while longer.

    Optimism about the economic outlook in China, a major buyer
of many of Canada's raw materials, also lifted mining companies.
Among them, Teck Resources Ltd jumped 4.1 percent to
C$29.72.

    "The numbers out of China seem to be better now and that
seems to be having an impact especially on the materials area,"
said John Kinsey, portfolio manager at Caldwell Securities.

    He pointed to signs that Australian iron ore and coal
companies are ramping up production and to improving data out of
Europe, a key market for Chinese exports, as further reason to
believe the massive Chinese economy might be stabilizing.
    Two of the world's biggest gold miners gave the index the
biggest boost, with Goldcorp Inc adding 4.9 percent to
C$26.99, and Barrick Gold Corp gaining 4.8 percent to
hit a one-month high of C$20.47.

    The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
 ended up 61.53 points, or 0.47 percent, at 13,248.06.
It has gained almost 3 percent since Oct. 11, and is at its
highest level since July 2011.

    U.S. employers added 148,000 positions last month, the Labor
Department said, below expectations of 180,000. While the job
count for August was revised higher and the unemployment rate
ticked down to 7.2 percent from 7.3 percent, employment gains in
July were revised lower and were the weakest since June 2012.

    While the soft jobs number suggests demand in Canada's
largest export market will remain weak, the prospect of a
looser-for-longer U.S. monetary policy has encouraged Canadian
investors.

    "There is a fair amount of stability in the Canadian market
and people seem to be quite comfortable," said Fred Ketchen,
director of equity trading at ScotiaMcLeod.

    "Our market is still considerably behind the gains they've
had in the U.S. market year to date, so maybe we've still got
room to outperform the U.S. market for November and December."
    Banks also featured heavily in the list of gainers with Bank
of Nova Scotia up 0.9 percent at C$62.54, Canadian
Imperial Bank of Commerce rising 1.2 percent to C$86.41,
and Bank of Montreal adding 0.7 percent to C$72.63.

    ScotiaMcLeod's Ketchen said he expects investors will
cautiously return to the market given the low-interest-rate
environment, with banks, pipelines, utilities and telecoms
likely to benefit.

20 stocks with momentum on their side ......now is a fine time to be positioning your portfolio for what lies ahead.

 

Which stocks tend to do best over this period? Mr. McGee ran hundreds of tests with CPMS data dating back to 1985 to find the variables that tend to shine most reliably.

He found that stocks with momentum – rising prices and earnings – are usually the best bets. The accompanying list of 20 Canadian stocks have the most attractive combinations of some of the highest scoring momentum metrics on Mr. McGee’s tests. These metrics include:

 

Canadian stocks with strong momentum

Rank	Company	Symbol	Market Cap ($-mil)
1	Xtreme Drilling & Coil	XDC-T	294.90
2	Badger Daylighting Ltd.	BAD-T	810.40
3	Storm Resources Ltd.	SRX-T	287.90
4	BNK Petroleum Inc.	BKX-T	186.30
5	AutoCanada Inc.	ACQ-T	799.30
6	Raging River Explor.	RRX-T	866.90
7	Valeant Pharmaceutical	VRX-T	36,211.00
8	Patheon Inc.	PTI-T	937.20
9	RMP Energy Inc.	RMP-T	606.00
10	Sirius XM Canada	XSR-T	634.10

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