Canadian stock market rises on US sales data

The Canadian stock market closed higher on Tuesday as a recent read on U.S. sales data turned out better than expected. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 38.88 points, or 31 percent to 12,641.97, after a flat trading day on Monday, while the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index gained 2.26 points, or 0.18 percent, to 1, 231.79. The U.S. Commerce Department reported on Tuesday that the December retail sales of the world's largest economy were up 0.5 percent, better than the 0.2 percent rise that economists had expected. Experts said this gave the investors a sign that global economy is doing better and that the world economy wasn't dragged down by the fiscal cliff. Barrick Gold Corp. rose 1.07 percent to 34.03 Canadian dollars a share while the company's main competitor Goldcorp shares increased 1.04 percent to 36.86 Canadian dollars apiece. Gold miner Kinross Gold gained 2.91 percent to 9.56 Canadian dollars a share. In the energy sector, Suncor Energy grew by 0.47 percent to 33. 92 Canadian dollars per share. Canadian Natural Resources decreased by 0.58 percent to 29.09 Canadian dollars. Among mining stocks, Eastern Platinum gained 3.5 Canadian cents or 15.22 percent to 26.5 Canadian cents after its parent company Anglo American Platinum, the world's largest platinum producer, said it will close some South African mines and cut 14,000 jobs. The information technology sector was down 1.05 percent with Blackberry maker RIM shares ending a two-day rise of more than 10 percent and closing down 2.93 percent to 14.27 Canadian dollars apiece. At the close, the Canadian dollar weakened to 1.0160 U.S. dollar at 5 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) from 1.0164 U.S. dollars on Monday. Enditem