Canada's main stock index leaps over Fed's tapering decision

Canada's main stock index rallied Wednesday as the U.S. Federal Reserve made the decision to roll back its stimulus program. Hitting a highest jump recorded in more than two months since Oct. 10, the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index went up 154.57 points, or 1.17 percent, to close at 13,334.73 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied to a record close. The Dow leaped 292.71 points, or 1.8 percent, to 16167.97, which was its third-biggest daily percentage gain of the year. And the S&P 500 added 29.65 points, or 1.7 percent, to 1810.65. The U.S. Federal Reserve decided Wednesday to taper its bond- buying program by 10 billion U.S. dollars to 75 billion dollars a month, starting in January. Investors considered the decision a sign that the U.S. economy continues to improve. At the same time, the U.S. Federal Reserve promised to keep short-term interest rates low longer that it has signaled before, which also boosted investors' confidence. All the major sectors in the index advanced and the volume reached a new record of 184,607,286 since Sept. 20, when the volume was 458,819,740. Most sectors advanced more than one percent with health care shares witnessing the biggest rise of 1.97 percent, followed by the financial sector with an increase of 1.34 percent, and the energy sector, up 1.33 percent. As for the performance of companies, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada's second largest bank, was up 1.67 percent to 97.41 Canadian dollars (90.60 U.S. dollars), and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. jumped 1.71 percent to 34.42 Canadian dollars. By contrast, Barrick Gold Corp., the world's biggest gold producer, was down 0.82 percent to 18.08 Canadian dollars, after the company said Tuesday that two long-time directors, Donald Carty and Robert Franklin, have resigned from the company's board. The share price of Teck Resources Ltd., the Vancouver-based provider of steelmaking coal, copper, declined 0.23 percent to 26. 25 Canadian dollars. With regard to currency, the Canadian dollar was down to 0.9344 U.S. dollar Wednesday, compared with 0.9429 U.S. dollar on Tuesday.