CANADA STOCKS-TSX ends year broadly higher, gains 9.6 pct in 2013

 (Adds portfolio manager comment, details; updates prices to 
close) 
    * TSX up 40.16 points, or 0.3 percent, on the day 
    * Ends 2013 at 13,621.55, a 9.6 percent annual gain 
    * Annual gain much smaller than U.S. indices as gold weighs 
 
    By Alastair Sharp 
    TORONTO, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index closed 
out 2013 with a broad but modest gain on Tuesday, boosted by 
higher miners, banks, railways and energy companies, as 
investors looked optimistically ahead to 2014. 
    "A nice close, and I think the momentum will probably 
continue on January 2nd," said David Cockfield, a portfolio 
manager at Northland Wealth Management.  
    "We are looking at people who are buying for 2014, not for 
the last of 2013. People who were light on the equity side are 
getting themselves into position," he said. 
    The rise capped a 9.6 percent gain for the Toronto Stock 
Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index    in 2013, a far 
smaller gain than those notched by the three main U.S. indices. 
It was the best annual performance since 2010's rise of more 
than 14 percent. 
    Much of Canada's lag can be blamed on dismal returns from 
mining stocks, which struggled with rising production costs and 
volatile prices, while U.S. stocks were more directly boosted by 
the U.S. Federal Reserve's massive stimulus program. 
    In particular, some of the world's biggest gold miners call 
Canada home and have seen their shares fall even further than 
the 28 percent decline in bullion this year - its worst drop in 
32 years.    
    Barrick Gold Corp    has fallen 46 percent this year, 
and Goldcorp Inc    is down 37 percent. But the pair 
reversed Monday's losses in the last session of the year, with 
Goldcorp up 3.6 percent at C$23.04 and Barrick gaining 2.6 
percent to C$18.67. 
    The index as a whole ended up 40.16 points, or 0.3 percent, 
at 13,621.55 points, on the back of modest gains in seven of the 
index's 10 main sectors. It ended 2012 at 12,433.53. 
    Resource stocks, which make up a large chunk of the overall 
index, had the biggest positive impact, with Canadian Natural 
Resources Ltd    up 1 percent at C$35.94 and Suncor Energy 
Inc    also adding 1 percent, to C$37.24.  
    Bank of Nova Scotia    gained 0.3 percent to C$66.43 
and Canadian National Railway Co    added 0.5 percent to 
C$60.56. 
     
    HIGHER HOPES FOR 2014 
    The Canadian stock market may deliver its best performance 
in four years in 2014 as a global economic recovery gathers 
steam, driving up sagging commodity prices and natural resource 
shares, a Reuters poll found in mid-December.    
    With Europe pulling itself out of a recession, China showing 
signs of stabilizing, Japan feeling positive effects of a record 
stimulus and the U.S. economy entering higher gear, analysts 
expect the global demand outlook to brighten. And the 
export-focused Canadian market is seen a beneficiary. 
    "You can stick your neck out a little further in this kind 
of environment," Northland's Cockfield said.  
    But while a seemingly surer footing for the global economy 
has many investors confident that Canada's resource stocks will 
lift their game in the next year, some are still ringing a note 
of caution. 
    "I don't share everybody's enthusiasm for the markets. They 
are trading at rarefied levels," said John Ing, president of 
Maison Placements Canada, referring to U.S. markets overall and 
specific sectors of the Canadian market such as banks. 
    He said, however, that gold may have a chance to shine again 
as interest rates on longer-dated bonds rise on the Fed's 
just-started withdrawal of stimulus that has supported equities 
for several years.  
    "The byproduct of higher interest rates will be volatility 
in the market and a return to risk assets, and that's where gold 
does well." 
    The technology sector, a much smaller piece of the pie, also 
sank this year, as once world-beating smartphone maker 
BlackBerry Ltd    shed more than a third of its value amid 
massive losses and an aborted attempt to sell itself. 
 
 (Editing by Bob Burgdorfer) 
 ((alastair.sharp@reuters.com)(+1-416-941-8118)(Reuters 
Messaging: alastair.sharp.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
  
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