Canada’s main stock index rose on Wednesday, tracking global stocks that rose on hopes for progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks, while investors awaited the US Fed’s policy outcome.
At 9:50 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 188.33 points, or 0.89%, at 21,376.17, with technology stocks leading gains.
Russia and Ukraine both emphasized new-found scope for compromise on Wednesday as peace talks were set to resume three weeks into a Russian assault that has failed to topple the Ukrainian government by force.
The Fed is expected to raise rates for the first time in three years later on Wednesday and offer guidance on future tightening.
Meanwhile, domestic annual inflation rate accelerated again in February to hit a fresh 30-year high at 5.7%, Statistics Canada data showed. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the annual rate to rise to 5.5%.
“The most striking thing in the February data and this followed on from the January data, that there’s really a lot of evidence now of broadening price pressures,” said Stephen Brown, senior economist at Capital Economics.
“That’s definitely a worrying sign for Bank of Canada, because it means that even before this recent rise in commodity prices, we were already seeing pretty clear evidence of broadening inflationary pressures.”
Toronto-listed technology shares jumped 2.8%, tracking gains in US tech-heavy Nasdaq index, while financial shares , which account for about one-third of the Toronto market, were up 1.3%.
TSX has outperformed many global benchmarks this year, helped by the strong weightage of commodity-linked shares that have tracked a sharp spike in commodities following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The energy sector climbed 0.8% as oil steadied above $100 a barrel in a volatile session, while the materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, fell 0.13% as gold futures fell 0.5% to $1,918.3 an ounce.
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