Energy stocks helped Canada's main stock index rise on Monday, as oil prices jumped after concerns around the Omicron coronavirus variant eased, although weakness in pot producers limited gains.
At 9:46 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 53.94 points, or 0.26%, at 20,687.21.
The energy sector jumped 1.3% as oil climbed by $2 a barrel on hopes the Omicron coronavirus variant would have a less damaging economic impact if its symptoms proved mostly mild.
"Markets are probably going to be volatile until we get through the Federal Reserve meeting, which is next week and so there's going to be people that are going to be holding off till you see if the Fed changes his tone at all," said Gregory Taylor, portfolio manager at Purpose Investments.
The US Federal Reserve is set to meet next week, and investors expect the central bank to start aggressively tightening its stimulus.
Toronto index turns negative as pot producers weigh
Limiting advances was the healthcare sector down 2.8%, with all major pot producers including OrganiGram Holdings Inc, Tilray Inc, Canopy Growth Corp, Aurora Cannabis Inc falling more than 4%.
Toronto-listed technology stocks fell 1.2%, as Hut 8 Mining Corp tumbled more than 13% along with other cryptocurrency names, as prospects of a hawkish Fed made speculative assets less attractive.
The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 0.8% as gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,779.8 an ounce.
Highlights
The TSX posted one new 52-week highs and six new lows.
Across all Canadian issues there were one new 52-week highs and 37 new lows, with total volume of 54.98 million shares.
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