TORONTO (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks extended their record for a fifth straight day, led by dividend-paying financial shares including Bank of Nova Scotia, after the Bank of Canada kept interest rates steady.Energy shares including Talisman Energy Inc. gained as oil held near a two-month high. Bank yields are attractive and some oil stocks are “relatively cheap,” said Jackee Pratt, who helps manage $712 million at Mavrix Fund Management Inc.

“The biggest overhang on Canadian stocks is people worrying about whether the economy is going to have a full-blown recession or just a slowdown. Earnings will continue to grow and so my target for the stock market may rise,” said Pratt.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index added 47.23, or 0.4 percent, to 12,895.90 in Toronto. Canada’s benchmark has set fresh records every one of the last five days and is up 14 percent this year so far.

The Canadian central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4.25 percent for a fourth-straight meeting, saying recent signs of slower economic growth are coinciding with strong employment gains and global demand for the country’s commodities.

Stocks were also supported by data showing that service industries’ growth unexpectedly accelerated in the US, suggesting the largest part of American economy is expanding fast enough for companies to meet profit forecasts.

A measure of financial stocks added 0.3 percent.

The financial group pays out an average 2.7 percent as a dividend, compared with a 2.3 percent average yield for the 273 members of the S&P/TSX. Dividends become more attractive to investors compared with bond yields or savings accounts when borrowing costs remain stable or come down.

Bank of Nova Scotia, the nation’s third-largest bank by assets, gained 18 cents to C$51.55. Smaller rival Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce added 91 cents to C$91.86.