By Adriano Marchese
Canadian stocks were firmly in green territory on Monday mid-trading while U.S. markets are closed for Juneteenth Holiday. Canadian communications led the gainers in the session after Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. agreed to sell Freedom Mobile Inc. to Quebecor Inc. in a C$2.85 billion deal late on Friday.
The transportation sector was the second biggest leader, while energy, materials and health tech were the only sectors posting declines.
At midday, Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite Index were up 0.95% at 19109.73. The blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 rose by 1.00% to 1160.03.
In a joint statement Friday before midnight, the companies said that Quebecor had agreed to buy Freedom on a cash-free, debt-free basis which would expand the Quebec-focused diversified media and telecom company’s wireless operations to a national level. Quebecor shares were up 5.5% to C$29.16, Rogers shares rose by 7.8% to C$63.63 and Shaw shares were up by C$6.3% to C$36.81.
Other market movers:
Quarterhill Inc. shares were up 3.7% at C$1.94 after it said its subsidiary won a 2.2 million Canadian dollar (US$1.7 million) contract to supply and install a weigh-in-motion and electronic pre-clearance system in Idaho.
Shares in Frontera Energy Corp. were up by 3.5% to C$10.93 after it said that it would begin to buy back up to $50 million of its outstanding common shares by way of a modified Dutch auction.
Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 20, 2022 12:33 ET (16:33 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Read More: Toronto Stocks Climb as Comms Push Indexes; Rogers, Shaw, Quebecor Agree to C$2.85