Canada's stock climbs on Christmas eve

Canada's main stock rose Tuesday with the mining sector leading the advance on Christmas Eve. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index rose 70.32 points, or 0.52 percent, to 13,518.02 in a shortened trading session. The Toronto exchange closed at 1 p.m. ET, three hours earlier than the regular closing time, and would stay closed on Wednesday and Thursday for the Christmas and Boxing Day holidays. The metals and mining sector posted the biggest increase of 2. 93 percent. In the gold sector, Goldcorp Inc. rose to 22.94 Canadian dollars per share, up by 3.29 percent, while Barrick Gold Corporation, the world's biggest gold company, was up 3.84 percent to 18.40 Canadian dollars. The market was also boosted by a sale deal of Sherritt International Corp, whose shares gained 14.79 percent to close at 3.88 Canadian dollars. As one of Canada's biggest coal companies, it said it's selling its entire coal business in Canada to two buyers for a total of 946 million Canadian dollars. The Colorado-based Westmoreland Coal Co. would buy Sherritt's mines in Alberta and Saskatchewan, while Altius Minerals of St. John's, N.L., will buy the company's coal royalty portfolio and coal development projects. Almost all of other sectors advanced a bit, with the energy sector up 0.21 percent and the financials up 0.36 percent. The Canadian dollar decreased to 0.9403 U.S. dollar Tuesday, down from 0.9419 U.S. dollar in Monday's trading.